From the Trenton Ledger:
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama made his pitch for the endorsement of the nation's biggest labor organization today when he addressed 600 members of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO in Trenton.
"As long as the AFL-CIO is ready to walk with me, I'm ready to walk right beside it," Obama told the friendly crowd that gave him two standing ovations and several other rounds of applause.
Earlier today Obama received the endorsements of Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Jersey City Mayor Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy.
The AFL-CIO is holding a series of "town meetings" between presidential candidates and union members in various states to help it decide on its choice for 2008. Obama was the third Democrat to attend one of these screening sessions.
The senator from Illinois briefly spoke about the insecurities of living in a global economy where union membership is declining and well-paid jobs and fringe benefits are under siege. "What we have to make real today is the idea that in this country, we value the labor of every single American worker," he said.
He received one of two standing ovations when he touted his plan to provide universal health insurance coverage. "This is an idea whose time has come. It actually came a long time ago but Washington didn't seem to know," he said.
The other ovation came when he urged that American troops return from Iraq by next March.
Obama went on to pledge that he will defend the right of workers to organize and will seek trade and immigration policies that are fairer to American workers, particularly union members. "It's been a long time since we had a president that said unions are a good thing," he said.
http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates/2007/05/obama_in_trenton_makes_bid_for.html
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