Obama lands key Nevada union endorsement

Sen. Barack Obama landed a major coup Wednesday when he received the endorsement of Nevada’s Culinary Workers Union, which said it would back the Illinois Democrat in Nevada’s Jan. 19 caucuses.

{mosads}The endorsement of the state’s largest union is so potent that some say it can single-handedly sway the state for its recipient. With Nevada moving up in the Democratic nominating process this year — it is the next contested state on the party’s calendar — the endorsement became that much more important.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) campaign will now have to decide how much to contest the state. Despite the fact that Clinton has led the state by double digits in most polls, with a great deal of uncertainty surrounding turnout at the caucuses, the support of the union’s 60,000 members could well swing the contest.

Obama was also endorsed by the 17,500-member state chapter of the Service Employees International Union late Tuesday night.

Clinton strategist Howard Wolfson said on a conference call Wednesday that Clinton will strongly contest Nevada, as well as South Carolina a week later.

Still, the call, which featured senators from several crucial Feb. 5 states, emphasized the campaign’s focus on the overall delegate count and those “national primary” states.

“The schedule has not been set as to where we go from New York and Washington … but [we] are going to compete vigorously in all of the states that are going to be holding caucuses and primaries between now and Feb. 5,” Wolfson said. “That absolutely includes South Carolina and Nevada.

“We’ve always had a large lead in Nevada, and coming out of New Hampshire with momentum and energy and enthusiasm that we take from it, we feel very good about our operation and our organizations in both of those states.”

Michigan’s primary is Jan. 15, but the Democratic candidates have agreed not to campaign there because the move was not sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee.