WASHINGTON—A SEIU Illinois honcho I just talked to is predicting that after the executive board finishes hearing pitches from the three top Democratic campaigns, the politically powerful Service Employees International Union, meeting in Chicago, will not endorse today.
The Obama camp via Robert Gibbs in a sarcastic e-mail (he said I made him laugh. That’s good, right?) thinks I did not give them credit in an earlier posting for working the SEIU meeting in Washington last week.
Rival John Edwards camp thought they had the SEIU endorsement locked up. I gave some credit to the Clinton forces for stopping Edwards-who has been working the SEIU for years because they were whipping (organizing, conting noses) at the meeting. The Illinois SEIU did not whip. But my SEIU Illinois honcho says that it was lobbying inside the executive board from the Illinois contingent that swayed leaders to be neutral for the time being.
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Campaign strategy chief David Axelrod and campaign manager David Plouffe present their best pitchs to the SEIU today. Among those present in the room: Obama ally Tom Balanoff, president of the Illinois SEIU state council.