Obama picks up key Edwards supporter

Sen. Barack Obama today picked up the support of a key California union that had backed one of his failed opponents for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The state council of the Service Employees International Union has decided to back Obama after its first choice, former Sen. John Edwards dropped out this week, spokeswoman Jeanine Meyer Rodriguez said in a telephone interview.

“Basically we think that there are really good candidates in this election, and a lot of good energy,” she said of Obama and his principal rival New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was campaigning today in California.

“We believe that Obama best advances our vision for a new America, united in hope,” Rodriguez said in explaining why the union decided to back the Illinois senator. Annelle Grajeda, president of the group, formally announced the decision this morning.

The 650,000-member state union represents employees including nurses, janitors and home care workers. It is especially strong in the Latino community, a key voting bloc in Tuesday’s primary in California and some 20 other contests across the nation.

The union’s decision to go with Obama is also important as part of the campaign’s efforts to woo former supporters of Edwards, who dropped out of the presidential sweepstakes after running poorly in the early primaries and caucuses. Edwards keyed his effort on a strong economic campaign and helping to poor and unionized.

At a Los Angeles news conference, Obama said that he has specifically asked Edwards for his endorsement, although “we haven’t had specific conversations about an Obama administration…. He and I share a fundamental view that it is not enough to just change political parties.”

The Obama campaign is courting Edwards’ supporters heavily.

In a statement, the campaign announced that “elected officials including a former congressman from Georgia and state legislative leaders in Arizona, New Jersey, North Dakota and Virginia announced their decision to support Obama after previously playing a leading role in the Edwards campaign.”

At his news conference, which focused mainly on economic issues, Obama said he thought that the Thursday night debate underscored the major differences between himself and Sen. Clinton – Iraq, health care and lobbyists.

“The problem with the war in Iraq was a problem of conception. If we go in there suggesting it was just not managed well by George Bush, then Sen. McCain will be able to come back and argue that … we are now getting it right,” Obama said of the leading GOP candidate, Arizona Sen. John McCain.

“I totally dispute that,” Obama continued. “It is easier for me to dispute,” he said, given his long-standing statements that the war was a strategic error.

Obama today also was endorsed by MoveOn.org, a liberal social network on the Web that claims 3.2 million members. Members backed Obama by a ratio of better than 2-to-1, the group said in a statement.

maria.laganga@latimes.com

michael.muskal@latimes.com