In the End, Union Support Not Enough for Obama

Taylor, the secretary treasurer of the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, had delivered the most sought-after endorsement in Nevada politics to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). But with the Nevada caucus eight days off, Taylor wasn't certain of his ability to deliver a unified bloc of votes.

"That's a fair question," Taylor said at the time. "I guess time will tell."

Time, in fact, told a far different story than Taylor -- or Obama -- had expected.

For all the predictions of the endorsement tipping the scales for Obama, the culinary union -- along with the 18,000-strong Nevada chapter of the Service Employees International Union -- could not even be sure it delivered a majority of its votes yesterday for him. Instead, Clinton's long ties to the Latino community and an aggressive ground game to bring out female voters appears to have trumped the power of the union bosses to control their rank and file.

Seven of the nine casino sites dominated by culinary workers went for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who had been disparaged in fliers and radio ads by the union as trying to suppress the voting rights of Latinos and union workers. Turnout statewide exceeded 115,000, a level that only Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) believed possible. But at the casinos, turnout dipped below the minimum level expected by Clinton campaign officials.

Officially, the Obama campaign thanked the culinary union for its support, saying that it helped close a polling gap of more than 20 points six weeks ago. "They put together a very strong effort. We were proud to go to battle with them," David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, said in a conference call after Obama's defeat became official.

Several factors contributed to the disappointing showing for the union, which boasts 60,000 members. The Obama endorsement came late, after national headlines hailed Clinton's come-from-behind victory in New Hampshire. Moreover, a large number of union members are Latinos, many of whom officials said were voting for the first time. And many rank-and-file union members were women, who made for ripe targets for a personalized recruiting effort by Clinton's team.

"It's a sad day for the Culinary. It's sad day for SEIU. Maybe next time when they come out with an endorsement, they'll consult with their members," said Gerald W. McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the largest national union supporting Clinton.

Dina Titus, a Clinton backer and political scientist at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, said she hosted two Clinton volunteers -- one from Baltimore, the other from Boston -- who worked the Las Vegas barrios from sunrise to sunset. Ultimately, she said, those personal appeals may well have broken the power of the union leaders.

Clinton's ground troops seeded Las Vegas beauty salons with folders that displayed Clinton's hairstyles through her career and declared: "Worry about your hair. If you don't, someone else will" -- a dig at establishment sexism, Titus said. That issue came even more into focus when MSNBC political talk show host Chris Matthews was forced to apologize for comments that he conceded could have been regarded as sexist and demeaning to Clinton.

For the Latino vote, Clinton leaned heavily on Las Vegas's dynamic state assemblyman, Ruben Kihuen, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. On Clinton's first foray into Las Vegas after her victory in New Hampshire, Kihuen, 27, escorted the former first lady through a Latino neighborhood, made up largely of culinary workers, knocking on doors and sitting in the homes of union members.