Sunday, January 20, 2008

Culinary Union can’t muscle win - Poor showing blamed on late endorsement

www.lasvegassun

Before dawn, the Culinary Union’s army of organizers gathered in the large second-story hall of its Las Vegas headquarters. Members lined up for coffee and doughnuts, a kind of last meal before making the final push for the union’s endorsed candidate, Sen. Barack Obama.

Their organizing packets contained a flier that read: “Culinary Members Are Sticking Together! Culinary Members’ Voices Will Be Heard!”

The members were heard -- but not in the way the union’s leadership had hoped.

Sen. Hillary Clinton won seven of the nine at-large caucus sites on the Strip, sites her husband had derided as giving disproportionate influence to the 60,000-strong union. She won Nevada by 6 percentage points.

In short, the Culinary didn’t deliver.

“I’m not going to make excuses,” said Culinary Secretary-Treasurer D. Taylor. “You have to give credit to the Clinton campaign. She won.”

The ramifications will be felt for some time, as the union now faces a divided membership and perceptions of lost clout after months of carefully cultivating its image as Nevada’s political kingmaker. (Another line from the flier boasted, “Culinary Members Will Elect Barack Obama!”).......

No comments: