Saturday, February 16, 2008

Obama Gets an Important Endorsement


This week in Milwaukee, Senator Barack Obama gathered a key labor endorsement that once belonged to Hillary Clinton. He also criticized Senator Clinton for signing off on labor bills that he felt were harmful to American workers.

Many have criticized Hillary Clinton for being on the board of Walmart, one of the companies that has most benefited from such laws.

"Her supporting NAFTA didn't give jobs to the American people," Obama said. "Her supporting a bankruptcy bill made it harder for people to get out of debt that didn't help them with the bills that were stacking up on their desks."

Obama needs the labor endorsements, especially since polls show that Hillary Clinton has a large lead in Ohio and Pennsylvania, two states that contain a large number of delegates. His most recent endorsement came from the Service Employees International Union, an organization with 1.9 million workers.

He was also endorsed by the United Food and Commercial Workers, a group with 69,000 members in Ohio and another 26,000 in Texas.

In Wisconsin, Obama claimed that Clinton was attacking him as a cheap ploy to gain votes. He also claimed that she was so divisive that she was not able to get her health care reform bill passed.

"Hollering at Republicans and engaging in petty partisan politics didn't help health care get done," he said. "The American people don't want to play the same games. They don't want the cheap shots. They don't want the negative ads. What they are looking for are solutions and bringing people together."

Clinton's campaign appears to be in trouble. She has had 8 straight losses to Obama, her funds are not as strong, and her staff has lost key members. However, in spite of all this, Obama only has a small edge in Wisconsin.

Clinton has released a spate of negative ads in Wisconsin, accusing Obama of refusing to debate her in the state. She also claims that she can still win. The Obama camp agrees that Hillary Clinton should not be underestimated.

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