CONCORD, N.H. (Jan. 4) — Health care is bringing scores of union workers to New Hampshire to campaign for Democrat John Edwards.
The main union support comes from the Service Employees International Union. About 30 members packed a hotel meeting room near Edwards’ campaign office in Concord on Thursday.
“We have out-of-state members from SEIU states that have endorsed John Edwards,” said Patrick Green, who organized SEIU’s orientation for out-of-state members and the union’s campaign in New Hampshire.
“They are members who are volunteering their time to come here and do our member-to-member campaigning.”
They will fan across the state to talk to workers at their jobs. The volunteers will hand out leaflets. They will knock on doors at New Hampshire union members’ houses, urging them to vote for Edwards.
New Hampshire’s state chapter, which represents 10,000 workers, was one of 12 state chapters to endorse Edwards. The 12 endorsements together represent more than 1 million SEIU members.
Kate Bedingfield, the Edwards campaign’s New Hampshire press secretary, praised the endorsement as pivotal to the campaign. “It’s enormously helpful,” she said. “We’re very proud to have their support.”
Because of federal campaign finance laws, the SEIU’s efforts are not funded by or affiliated with the Edwards campaign.
Health care drew the union’s support, explained SEIU organizer Green, because Edwards has the most detailed health care proposal to cover the most uninsured Americans.
“It will help working people,” said Green, who is from Portland, Ore. “He’s going to help retirement benefits. It’s typical stuff that our members care about — general workers’ issues.”
Diana Lacey, a member of SEIU and a resident of Laconia, N.H. also praised Edwards’ health care plan. New Hampshire, she said, is facing a “health care crisis.” Edwards’ plan is the best option to fix the crisis, Lacey said.
The latest CNN/WMUR poll of likely Democratic voters in New Hampshire was released Wednesday. In it, 17 percent said they would vote for Edwards while 34 percent support Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and 30 percent support Senator Barack Obama.
Green, the union organizer, was still holding out hope for an Edwards victory in New Hampshire. “We know from talking with voters that this is all very fluid,” he said. “There’s a lot of undecideds and a lot of people can be convinced. And we want to persuade people because we believe in John Edwards.”
In Iowa, recent polls show Edwards in a virtual three-way tie with Clinton and Obama. A strong showing by Edwards in the Iowa caucuses would help the campaign in New Hampshire, Green said. Iowa’s state chapter of the SEIU also endorsed Edwards and has out-of-state volunteers campaigning for Edwards there.
Edwards’ press secretary Bedingfield also downplayed the polls. Edwards, she said, should not be counted out of the New Hampshire race because in July, he was polling around 10 percent before seeing a steady rise in numbers since.
“There’s been a steady uptick in polling for Senator Edwards in New Hampshire in the past six months,” Bedingfield said. “That’s right on the heels of Clinton and Obama and it’s an easy amount of ground to make up. This is a three-way race in New Hampshire.”
(Heath D. Williams, a junior newspaper major, is covering the New Hampshire primary for The Pilot of Southern Pines, N.C.)
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