The AFL-CIO is preparing to give its stamp of approval to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. The leaders of the nation's largest labor organization started voting Tuesday on whether to endorse the Illinois senator. The election, which is being done by fax, is scheduled to end on Thursday. Obama's name is the only one on the ballot sent to the AFL-CIO's 56 unions. The AFL-CIO's endorsement is virtually certain now that Obama is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. It has already started its campaign against Republican presidential candidate John McCain, and its biggest rival, the Change to Win labor organization, already has endorsed the Democratic senator from Illinois.
See "AFL - CIO getting ready to endorse Obama", Associated Press, The New York Times, June 23, 2008