For an idea of the influence that the Service Employees International Union carries in Democratic politics, consider that former President Bill Clinton phoned a 17-member committee of the union?s New Hampshire operation last Monday to extol his wife?s record on issues that are important to the labor movement. Mr. Clinton?s seven-minute pitch was just one way in which the Democratic presidential candidates are courting that 1.9 million-member union, whose financial and organizational clout are much-sought prizes not just in the race for the White House but also in Congressional and state contests. While the national union has not endorsed a presidential candidate, its state councils have been freed to do so.
See "A Union With Clout Stakes Its Claim on Politics", Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times, October 29, 2007