From today's Beyond Chron.

When asking Nevada culinary workers on Tuesday to ignore their union's endorsement of Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton called his wife the insurgent in the race - and Obama the "establishment" candidate.  It was an odd statement, for nobody can seriously dispute that Hillary Clinton is the Democratic Party's establishment choice.  And while UNITE-HERE, the Culinary Workers and Nevada SEIU have rallied behind Obama, hotel and casino executives are largely supporting Clinton.

What the ex-President meant to say was that culinary workers should make up their own mind -- regardless of what their union recommends.  But the Nevada teachers' union (which supports Clinton) has ignored pleas from their own rank-and-file members to drop a lawsuit that, if successful, would prevent casino workers from voting in Saturday's caucus.  The party decided months ago to have "at-large" precincts inside Las Vegas casinos, but now some Clinton partisans - including Bubba - want them shut down because attendees are likely to support Obama.

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I'm a card carrying union gal, a proud member of the striking WGA ("We write. You wrong").  I learned about
respecting the power of the rank and file from my father who taught me never to cross a picket line, and from my own days of walking a line I learned to love the rank and file as brothers and sisters.  So every time a union endorses a candidate I pay special attention because I value the voices of union members.

Senator Obama received an important endorsement the day after he lost the New Hamphire primary.  The Culinary Workers Local 226 in Nevada announced that he was their candidate of choice.  I was impressed by the endorsement, and respectful of the 60,000 hard-working men and women who voted for it.  The rank and file had spoken, and Obama was their man, I thought.

Turns out I was wrong.

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It's still not as strongly sourced as it could be, but this morning a couple of the largest establishment media organizations -- The New York Times and ABC News -- seem to have the powerful Culinary Workers Union in Nevada backing Barack Obama in the state's upcoming caucuses. First The Times:

After suffering a setback in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Senate Barack Obama will get some good news at 11 a.m. today, eastern time, when Unite Here, the union representing 460,000 apparel, laundry, hotel and restaurant workers, announces that it is endorsing him, a union official said.

The union will make the announcement simultaneously at its New York headquarters and in Las Vegas, where its local, Culinary Local 226, representing more than 60,000 casino, hotel and restaurant workers, is by far the largest and most politically potent union in Nevada.

[...]

With its announcement, Unite Here will become the first national union to back Mr. Obama. Its leaders hope to help put him over the top in the Nevada caucuses on Jan. 19 and give him new momentum.

ABC News:

Despite losing Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, Sen. Barack Obama secured the endorsement of the Culinary Workers union.

The endorsement of the 60,000-member Culinary Workers union is seen as the biggest get in Nevada, a state which votes Jan. 19.

[...]

The backing of the 60,000-member union is seen as important because the state's Democratic Party is only expecting 40,000 Democrats to participate in the caucuses.

Not much to add to these stories except that, in the case that they do pan out as expected (and it seems from the writing that the decision has been made, not that it will be made), Nevada would be in play for Barack Obama in a way that I never before thought it would be. Coupled with the SEIU endorsement from the state, the backing of the culinary workers makes Obama more competitive than he previously was; polling has indicated that although Obama is seemingly on an upward trend in Nevada, he still trails (or rather trailed as of December when the last polling on the race was in the field) Clinton by more than 20 points.

This provides Obama with a real opportunity -- but also presents a real risk. Going into a contest in which he was trailing 20 points according to polling sets a pretty low bar, but going into election day with the backing of some of the most powerful unions in the state significantly raises expectations. Obama might not need a win now in Nevada, but with the backing of SEIU and seemingly also of Unite Here/the culinary workers, it would be awfully dampening to his momentum heading into South Carolina the following week were he to get defeated by a hefty margin. At the same time, if these two unions can help propel him to a victory, a win in South Carolina seven days later could be made that much easier (unless South Carolina does to Nevada what New Hampshire did to Iowa in bucking the trend of the previous state).

Update [2008-1-9 12:37:31 by Jonathan Singer]: FWIW, the Obama campaign is trumpeting the endorsement...

Update [2008-1-9 14:27:39 by Jonathan Singer]: The Associated Press has the story now, too, so it looks like this is something that has in fact happened.

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Nevada will house the next nominating contest in which all in the current Democratic field will be participating, and with the state holding its first ever caucuses there's a lot of legwork to be done in the next several days before voters in the state have their say. As organization will play a large role in the caucuses, as it generally does in such contests, news of an endorsement from a powerful union comes as pleasant news (though by no means an assurance of victory) for a candidate. Such is the case for Barack Obama, who tonight was endorsed by the Nevada chapter of SEIU, per the Associated Press:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has won the endorsement of the Nevada chapter of the Service Employees International Union, union officials said.

The influential union claims to represent 17,500 health care and county workers in Nevada. Its executive board approved the decision in a conference call Tuesday night, shortly after the Illinois senator finished a close second behind Hillary Rodham Clinton in the New Hampshire primary.

SEIU President Vicky Hedderman said she believes Obama is a candidate "who could take the campaign all the way through November."

Nevada's Jan. 19 caucus is the next major Democratic nomination contest. Under union rules, the endorsement allows SEIU locals in other states to lend resources and volunteers to its Nevada counterpart on behalf Obama.

Obama has won the support of SEIU locals and state councils in five states, including his home state.

Also, as Todd noted earlier tonight, Obama is also still hoping to receive the support of the even more powerful Culinary Workers Union in Nevada, which is still a real possibility.

Again, because this is such a new event and it a set of caucuses around the state rather than a more conventional primary, the support of unions with deep roots in Democratic politics could play a major role in helping crown a victor in the state. It's worth noting that candidates with strong union support have failed to win before. John Edwards had the support of SEIU in Iowa, for instance, this cycle, and both Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt enjoyed robust labor support in their abortive 2004 presidential campaigns. That said, and I'm under no pretense that Nevada is the most important contest in the history of the world or anything (I think it will either reverberate what we're already hearing or help push back against the memes upon which the media has settled by the end of the week), but union support in a state in which unions are actually on the rise could play a major factor in party caucuses, and a candidate would no doubt rather have momentum coming out of Nevada and into South Carolina than another loss under his or her belt.

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