2004 Primray Question...

[nickshepDEM]

In Iowa and New Hampshire who received most of the labor support? Did the unions ever fully back any of the candidates or did they remain neutral for the most part?

[Awsi Dooger]

1. Early it was Gephardt

I know at least one major union also endorsed Dean

[tx_dem41]

2. SEIU endorsed Dean. n/t

[Orangepeel]

6. So did IUPAT (painters) n/t

[Zynx]

7. And AFSCME until they withdrew later.

[kevsand]

3. The national AFL-CIO remained neutral,

even though Gephardt had commitments from close to half of organized labor, because he was short of the supermajority needed for the formal endorsement.

Nearly every international union endorsed somebody or other. They were all over the board, and thus the labor vote was divided among several candidates, although Gephardt clearly had a plurality of labor support in Iowa and New Hampshire.

[nickshepDEM]

4. And yet he still fell short, very short.

I wonder why?

[kevsand]

5. I'm not entirely sure.

It's especially curious given the fact that he had been working Iowa steadily ever since his previous presidential run (1988?). With his proximity in Missouri and relatively strong labor backing, Iowa was a double edged sword for Gephardt in terms of expectations.

I suspect that some of it had to do with the fact that labor wasn't united (hasn't been for some time, actually; the split this summer didn't arrive overnight), but a lot of it may have been related to his performance relative to others in the debates, and the dynamics that played on the fortunes of other candidates (Lieberman, Kerry, Dean).

[karynnj]

9. Gephardt and Dean had dueling attack ads on each other

about 3 (???) weeks before the primaries. Prior to that they were considered to be fighting for number 1. Meanwhile Kerry has a reeunion with the guy he saved in Vietnam - the video of which was very emotion.

[Zynx]

8. For some reason union members didn't vote based on endorsements.

I don't blame them. I wouldn't have either, but they decided to vote for Kerry in Iowa and NH.