United Auto Workers Region 4 voted yesterday to endorse Barack Obama for President. Region 4 includes Minnesota, but I think most stories about this endorsement will chose to focus on the fact that it also includes Iowa (imagine that).
Obama won 65% of the vote, which is impressive, except Region 4 also includes Illinois, and the delegates from the Land of Lincoln might have carried a slight bias.
Nevertheless, the UAW nod should be a big boost to Obama in Iowa, especially because polling suggests that he trails Hillary by large margins among blue collar workers. If he can narrow that gap (and a blue collar union endorsement would presumably help) while holding his lead among professionals, he’ll be in great shape come caucus time.
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That is surprising. Obama gave a climate change speech to the Economic Club of Detroit six months ago, and what the campaign clearly intended to do - and for the national media, succeeded in doing - was to have kind of a Bill Clinton “Sister Souljah” moment with the auto industry and say, “Look, you guys, you’re part of the problem, you have to accept higher fuel standards, etc., etc.” My understanding was that the UAW was unhappy that the words “union” or “labor” never once passed his lips, and he came off as unnecessarily tone-deaf.
Does anyone else find it odd that Sen. Clinton, the apparent frontrunner, has little or no organization to show in the state of Minnesota? Barack has a field office, paid staffers, a volunteer network, and endorsements from R.T. Rybak and Rep. Ellison and the Auto workers union. Edwards has a strong volunteer organization (See the SCC meeting), endorsements from numerous state legislators and Ted Mondale and Rep. Oberstar, and has also been endorsed by the Minnesota SEIU. So i guess my question is, aside from frmr. Sen. Mark Dayton and frmr. VP Mondale, what kind of support does Clinton have in the state?