An Edwards union eyes Obama

John Edwards' departure from the Democratic presidential race leaves dangling some key unions who supported him. And word on the street is that one -- the Transport Workers Union -- may quickly shed its disappointment and sign up with Barack Obama's campaign.

The endorsement, if it happens, could prove beneficial to Obama in his Super Tuesday faceoff with Hillary Clinton.

Representing subway workers, bus drivers and the like, it claims more than 50,000 active and retired members in New York (the Clinton homestate where Obama hopes to avoid a blowout), 8,000 in New Jersey and 12,000 in California -- three of the major states with Tuesday primaries.

It's also got a contingent of about 10,000 current and retired members in Oklahoma, one of those "red" states where Obama wants to show his appeal in a primary on Tuesday.

Other unions that backed Edwards ...

but now are free agents include the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, the United Steelworkers of America and the United Mine Workers of America.

Clinton, given her stronger links to traditional centers of power within the Democratic Party, scarfed up the lion's share of labor endorsements. Her supporters include the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the National Federation of Teachers, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the National Association of Letter Carriers.

These endorsements don't get the attention generated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's backing of John McCain today, or even Hulk Hogan's embrace earlier in the week of Obama. But the grassroots energy that unions can supply could become increasingly important in the one-on-one Democratic battle.

And you can bet that Obama and his aides are doing everything possible to woo those groups that opted for Edwards at a time when Clinton seemed the clear frontrunner in the race.

-- Don Frederick

Comments

[Jenny]

Only a fool would endorse Obama or Clinton, this Edwards supporter knows the difference between a decent candidate and the shams Obama and Clinton both are.

Tell me, would you trust a candidate who would help a crook get contracts to build housing for the poor and elderly, over and over again, for a 20 year period, and knowing full well that the crook built that housing on contaminated land that should have been declared a brownfield, where that housing was falling apart even when new. No electricity because it was all substandard.. and that candidate ignored it and took bribes, allowed that crook to subsidize your McMansion, would you trust a candidate like that to mean anything other than lying in your face and stabbing you in the back once you'd served your purpose?? That's what you get with Barack Obama, because that is what he did with influence peddler Tony Rezko.

Hillary Clinton has been bought and paid for by the same contributers who greased Bush's way into the white house. Bill Clinton pushed threw Nafta, and Hillary knew how bad it was and ignored in while in the senate. She lied to her NY constituents, and helped outsource jobs and push citizens out of those jobs that didn't leave, through her assistance in allowing corporate interests flout the visa laws. She held a fundraisers at the lobbying headquarters of Monsanto titled "Rural Americans for Hillary", tell me, is Monsanto your idea of a rural American?

I'm writing in Edwards name to earn him more delegates. Both Obama and Clinton are trying to hijack Edwards platform without any commitment to it. Don't be a sucker and roll over for those two corporate whores. Think, ask questions and demand answers. Don't let the SEIU ownership tell you what to think or who to vote for. Andy Stern would sell you down the river cheaply.

[ben there]

If obama's the candidate, then you're voting for Mccain. It's that simple.

[gc]

Barack Obama has previously been absolved of any wrong doing regarding Tony Rezko, by investigators closer to the facts than those posting their unfounded and untrue rhetoric in an effort to smear, on many of like message boards across the internet. Records of these two candidates should be scrutinized in order to make an informed decision. Senator Clinton, who has served only one full term (6yrs.), and another year campaigning, has managed to author and pass into law, (20) twenty pieces of legislation in her first six years. These bills can be found on the website of the Library of Congress (www.thomas.loc.gov), but to save you trouble, I'll post them here for you. 1. Establish the Kate Mullany National Historic Site. 2. Support the goals and ideals of Better Hearing and Speech Month. 3. Recognize the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. 4. Name courthouse after Thurgood Marshall. 5. Name courthouse after James L. Watson. 6. Name post office after Jonn A. O'Shea. 7. Designate Aug. 7, 2003, as National Purple Heart Recognition Day. 8. Support the goals and ideals of National Purple Heart Recognition Day. 9. Honor the life and legacy of Alexander Hamilton on the bicentennial of his death. 10. Congratulate the Syracuse Univ. Orange Men's Lacrosse Team on winning the championship. 11. Congratulate the Le Moyne College Dolphins Men's Lacrosse Team on winning the championship. 12. Establish the 225th Anniversary of the American Revolution Commemorative Program. 13. Name post office after Sergeant Riayan A. Tejeda. 14. Honor Shirley Chisholm for her service to the nation and express condolences on her death. 15. Honor John J. Downing, Brian Fahey, and Harry Ford, firefighters who lost their lives on duty. Only five of Clinton's bills are, more substantive. 16. Extend period of unemployment assistance to victims of 9/11. 17. Pay for city projects in response to 9/11 18. Assist landmine victims in other countries. 19. Assist family caregivers in accessing affordable respite care. 20. Designate part of the National Forest System in Puerto Rico as protected in the wilderness preservation system. There you have it, the fact's straight from the Senate Record. Now, I would post those of Obama's, but the list is too substantive, so I'll mainly categorize. During the first (8) eight years of his elected service he sponsored over 820 bills. He introduced 233 regarding healthcare reform, 125 on poverty and public assistance, 112 crime fighting bills, 97 economic bills, 60 human rights and anti-discrimination bills, 21 ethics reform bills, 15 gun control, 6 veterans affairs and many others. His first year in the U.S. Senate, he authored 152 bills and co-sponsored another 427. These inculded the Coburn-Obama Government Transparency Act of 2006 (became law), The Lugar-Obama Nuclear Non-proliferation and Conventional Weapons Threat Reduction Act, (became law), The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, passed the Senate, The 2007 Government Ethics Bill, (became law), The Protection Against Excessive Executive Compensation Bill, (In committee), and many more. In all since enter the U.S. Senate, Senator Obama has written 890 bills and co-sponsored another 1096. An impressive record, for someone who supposedly has no record according to the spin meisters and mindless twits.

[Anton]

I definitely will be voting for Obama. But if Hillary ever gets it, I wont be voting at all.

[eSPO]

Barack Obama is the candidate for today. Nobody else brings his level of judgment and communication skills to the table. Barack is known for keeping the peace ,and a cool head ,between rival factions in brutal debates at Harvard. He is admired by former students and professors . His record of legislation shows a keen awareness of the needs of everyday Americans. He has been a reliable advocate for veterans and a defender of the common folk for many years.
Barack Obama does not change his tune with every fashion of the day. He says what he means and means what he says. Rezko is a non issue and those who perpetuate this as some sort of scandal only do so because they have nothing else to do but grasp at straws. The 'haters" are playing desperate games like spreading internet rumors about his faith and patriotism. Barack Obama is "the against all odds" candidate and I believe that he will take it all the way. The way he has mobilized such a broad coalition of support is amazing. Young, old, male,female, republican, independent, black or white, his message is stirring hearts and inviting new minds into the great American process. I urge all freedom loving Americans to take an objective look at Barack Obama. Our country desperately needs a uniting persona at this time of gridlock and partisan paralysis.

[Briam]

Obama all the way!

[Tony]

Barack there is no way that Hillary can be an Effective Leader and Have any Creditability to Be an Authority Figure in the world , with these Kinds of Ties that will suggest there is an Element of Favoritism with Foreign Affairs , conflicts of bias in writing effective trade and foreign policies , and we not look like a Dictatorship . This will arm the Republicans with everything they need to Challenge Hillary Clinton and win the Whitehouse and The Senate and House , because the Rage over er these Conflicts of Interest will be Brought out into the light , if she is the Nominee . There is no way the Clintons will be able to shield their Conflicts , even what is Locked up in the Records at the Clinton Library will be Unsealed , our the Country will come unglued over the Cover up of the Conflicts of Being able to Lead the USA without being Biased towards Conflicts like this , and how it lends to a fascism that's monumental in how Power corrupts if it is allowed to Morph , like is the case here with Clinton and Private Enterprise being Influenced to move a Deal Beyond the Competitive forces of Free Enterprise , into a more Collective fascist state of affairs .
This is not Justice to the Sense of Democracy and the free Enterprise system , and is why Barrack Obama has to make the call to duty a top priority in his run for the Whitehouse , and call down the Thunder of What is the Right thing to do , so the Peoples Voices are heard .
Hillary says that she will bring the Voices to Washington , but this Voice of Bills Buddies that want to dominate Resources in the world and donate to Bill Clintons Foundations , might have some form of Influence over Hillary in the Whitehouse , as she drafts up some more unfair Trade Policies that these Conflicts of Interest can take advantage of .

This is the fascism that is causing all the problems with Free Enterprise not being Free of Influence , so that Competition can bring about real quality and demand a price that's driven by Quality as the focus of origin of product demand . What we have here by this type of practice in Material Origination , is a Conflict of why the material is being originated into a market , and this is pure Fascism , and the Clintons are eyeball deep in Corporate favoritism , which is fascism 101 . Look it up and tell me that a Government Official and a Independent Enterpriser working together is not a form of pure fascism . And we wonder why our markets won't stabilize . The time for Real Change is here , Barack Obama is that Change .
Thanks and have a Great day in the Free Enterprising USA .

An ex-president, a mining deal and a big donor

Huge Kazakh deal follows financier’s trip with Clinton, precedes donation http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22926743
Late on Sept. 6, 2005, a private plane carrying the Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra touched down in Almaty, a ruggedly picturesque city in southeast Kazakhstan. Several hundred miles to the west a fortune awaited: highly coveted deposits of uranium that could fuel nuclear reactors around the world. And Mr. Giustra was in hot pursuit of an exclusive deal to tap them.

Unlike more established competitors, Mr. Giustra was a newcomer to uranium mining in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic. But what his fledgling company lacked in experience, it made up for in connections. Accompanying Mr. Giustra on his luxuriously appointed MD-87 jet that day was a former president of the United States, Bill Clinton.

Upon landing on the first stop of a three-country philanthropic tour, the two men were whisked off to share a sumptuous midnight banquet with Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan A. Nazarbayev, whose 19-year stranglehold on the country has all but quashed political dissent.

Mr. Nazarbayev walked away from the table with a propaganda coup, after Mr. Clinton expressed enthusiastic support for the Kazakh leader’s bid to head an international organization that monitors elections and supports democracy. Mr. Clinton’s public declaration undercut both American foreign policy and sharp criticism of Kazakhstan’s poor human rights record by, among others, Mr. Clinton’s wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

Within two days, corporate records show that Mr. Giustra also came up a winner when his company signed preliminary agreements giving it the right to buy into three uranium projects controlled by Kazakhstan’s state-owned uranium agency, Kazatomprom.

Deal stunned the mining industry
The monster deal stunned the mining industry, turning an unknown shell company into one of the world’s largest uranium producers in a transaction ultimately worth tens of millions of dollars to Mr. Giustra, analysts said.

Just months after the Kazakh pact was finalized, Mr. Clinton’s charitable foundation received its own windfall: a $31.3 million donation from Mr. Giustra that had remained a secret until he acknowledged it last month. The gift, combined with Mr. Giustra’s more recent and public pledge to give the William J. Clinton Foundation an additional $100 million, secured Mr. Giustra a place in Mr. Clinton’s inner circle, an exclusive club of wealthy entrepreneurs in which friendship with the former president has its privileges.

Mr. Giustra was invited to accompany the former president to Almaty just as the financier was trying to seal a deal he had been negotiating for months.

In separate written responses, both men said Mr. Giustra traveled with Mr. Clinton to Kazakhstan, India and China to see first-hand the philanthropic work done by his foundation.

A spokesman for Mr. Clinton said the former president knew that Mr. Giustra had mining interests in Kazakhstan but was unaware of “any particular efforts” and did nothing to help. Mr. Giustra said he was there as an “observer only” and there was “no discussion” of the deal with Mr. Nazarbayev or Mr. Clinton.

But Moukhtar Dzhakishev, president of Kazatomprom, said in an interview that Mr. Giustra did discuss it, directly with the Kazakh president, and that his friendship with Mr. Clinton “of course made an impression.” Mr. Dzhakishev added that Kazatomprom chose to form a partnership with Mr. Giustra’s company based solely on the merits of its offer.

After The Times told Mr. Giustra that others said he had discussed the deal with Mr. Nazarbayev, Mr. Giustra responded that he “may well have mentioned my general interest in the Kazakhstan mining business to him, but I did not discuss the ongoing” efforts.

[Mo]

Polls show that Hillary unites republicans against democrats in a big way. Obama is growing the democratic party, but Clinton will shrink it. Obama has my vote.

[Mark Billingsley]

I guess I'm a fool then for supporting Obama over a former North Carolina senator who spent 2007 and 2008 apologizing for every vote he cast in the senate. People ding Obama for a perceived lack of experience but he has almost as much elected legislative experience as Edwards and Hillary combined. And, as Obama said in last night's debate, it's about more than being READY on Day One - It's about being RIGHT on DAY ONE.

[Frankie]

I will never lie to you, says Mr. Obama. Well I for one am still
waiting for BO to tell us why Rezko's wife paid $600K for the lot next
to his mansion and sells it to Obama for $125K. And while you are at
it Mr. Obama can you tell me how an experience legislator, with good
judgement, can mistakely push the wrong button when voting on critical
issues in the IL house? BTW, Mr. Obama did you push the wrong button
when you voted present 100 times? I want to believe, but I need a
answer from you.

[shirlin]

Listen today to Bill Clinton attack our beloved historical union supporter, Senator Ted Kennedy, just because Kennedy has endorsed Obama. This is the same mean, angry, power-lust-driven tactics that in fact characterize the Clintons' co-presidency campaign. The Democratc Party is very badly served by Bill Clinton's naked rush to return to the WH, against our constitutional rule that no one can serve more than two terms.

[CARL THOMAS]

COUNT MY VOTE ON FEB 5, 2008 SUPER TUESDAY. BARACK OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

NO ONE ELSE DESERVES MY VOTE THAN THE MAN! BARACK OBAMA.

PERIOD.

[Philippa]

I feel change in the air.Obama for America!
Out with the old divisive politics embraced by the Clintons which results in gridlock in congress.In with Obama and the new politics of building bipartisan coalitions to get things done for the American people.
Mrs Clinton touts 35 questionable years of experience including her 16 years as Arkansas first lady and First lady of the Clinton era.What is 'experience'if you cannot get things done due to deep divisions which she fosters.
She is not electable in November as up to 47% of the country hate her.Her recent gutter politics on Obama will add to that percentage.

I hope more and more people see the light of day
Hillary's claim to "35 years of experience." Subtract her years spent as first lady of Arkansas and in the White House, and her time working as a lawyer in the Rose Law Firm and in other jobs. As Reason Magazine's Steve Chapman reported in November, Hillary Clinton has "just under eight years of experience in elective office -- one more than John Edwards and four fewer than Obama." And, to boot, Hillary the Feminist has her man to fight her battles.
Here's a great quote from tomorrow's NYTimes column by Gail Collins:

====

Hillary could start by purging her campaign of the lingering sense that the presidency is her due and anyone who stands in her way is a particularly mean chauvinist. You cannot run a campaign with the slogan: “Vote for Hillary — Think of All She’s Been Through.”

[jenn]

Obama did nothing wrong with the Rezko connections...however please do a news search for Hillary Clinton. Now I know why Mayor Villaraigosa is campaigning for Hillary...bought and paid for!

LOS ANGELES -- Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a national co-chair of Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, banked at least $7,500 in political donations linked to an indicted Chicago businessman whose past connections to Barack Obama have been used by Clinton to criticize her rival.

City records show Antoin Rezko, idenfitied as chairman of Rezmar Corp. of Chicago, contributed $1,000 to Villaraigosa's mayoral campaign in May 2001. Those records show Rezko also donated $500 to another Villaraigosa political committee in March 2003.

Records show Villaraigosa received at least another $6,000 from people or businesses with connections to Rezko.

Asked to confirm whether the mayor received donations from Rezko, spokesman Sean Clegg said "the contributions are currently under review."

Clegg said Villaraigosa doesn't know Rezko and was unaware whether Rezko or any of his companies were doing business with the city, or bidding on city contracts.

"The contributions from 2001 and 2003 were long before any issues related to Tony Rezko became public," Clegg said.

The donations could prove to be a political embarrassment for Clinton, who accused Obama in a South Carolina debate of representing Rezko "in his slum landlord business" when Obama was a young Chicago lawyer.

Rezko has been a patron of Illinois politicians for years and Obama's connections to Rezko go back more than 15 years. Rezko has contributed thousands of dollars to the campaigns of both Obama and Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Neither has been accused of any wrongdoing.

Obama's campaign has given to charity nearly $150,000 in contributions received by Obama's House, Senate and presidential campaigns that came from Rezko, his employees, his associates and his family.

Obama represented partners of Rezko's company in government-subsidized apartment rehabilitation projects, not Rezko himself. Obama says he did no more than five or six hours of work for the partners.

[Washington]

Obama has 11yrs of legislature experience to Hillarys 6.

[zamcal]

Los Angeles look..,

...Years........................................President

1988-1992....................................George Bush Sr.
1992-1996....................................Bill Clinton
1992-2000....................................Bill Clinton
2000-2004....................................George W. Bush
2004-2008....................................George W. Bush
2008-2012....................................Billary Clinton...?

No wonder every candidate sound believable -minus Hillary- when they talk about "CHANGE ! "

[jan]

I am a white female liberal . Having lived in the metropolis of Los Angeles all my life I'm looking at the Democratic nomination attempting to figure out which candidate would the Latino and African-American gang leaders likely see as their choice for President?

Sounds like a far-fetched thought? For this reason alone and many like myself re voting for Obama! Remember, since the Kennedy-Nixon debate in 1960, Americans vote "visually". As much as I love Hillary's intelligence and political experience, "visually" Obama would symbolize what America is becoming. A multi-cultured, vibrant, ever-changing society that needs to explore "change".

Honestly, the "Clilnton" name and husband Bill always at her side, it "visually" makes me believe that "Bill" is wanting a third term. That alone bothers me.

To political analysts who find my logic a little elementary, how many other Americans do you think this way? You'll be surprised. Big words and big promises don't mean anything because the average American knows that when a candidate is elected they mean nothing to their daily lives.

Image does!