Obama Gets Two More Union Endorsements

In another sign of Obama's gathering momentum, the Teamsters and Boilermakers unions are endorsing him.

As DHinMI explained of the significance of other recent union endorsements:

Some may deride UFCW (and assuming they follow suit, SEIU) for getting on board with Obama now, when he appears capable of securing the nomination.  It's possible that Edwards supporters were keeping SEIU and maybe UFCW from moving forward, but Edwards has been out of the contest now for over two weeks.  Whatever the case, the help comes in time to make a difference for Obama.  If they hurry, SEIU and UFCW can probably at least do some hurried voter contact by phone and maybe in the workplace to their members in Wisconsin.  But with close to three weeks to work their members in Texas and especially Ohio, and to put people on the ground to do independent expenditure work on behalf of Obama, they can move votes in the states that if she doesn't win could augur the end of Hillary Clinton's presidential aspirations.

Wisconsin is done, it's already less than two weeks to Ohio and Texas, and by now Obama looks likely to be the nominee. But further union support could materially help him lock things up with a strong performance in Ohio, which is more than 14% unionized. And even the cynical view that this is bandwagon-jumping reveals the widespread belief that Obama will be the nominee.

Meanwhile, at least these unions have thus far avoided repeating rightwing slurs of Hillary Clinton and her supporters in choosing Barack Obama.