Edwards picks up first union endorsement

For those political junkies keeping track, the big labor endorsement scorecard now stands at two for Hillary Clinton, one for John Edwards, and one for Chris Dodd.

Edwards this afternoon announced he is being backed by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, with more than 520,000 members. The formal endorsement will be made at a rally of union members on Sept. 8 in New Hampshire.

"Our endorsement is based on the Senator's outspoken support for all of organized labor and his focus on America's working families," Carpenters President Douglas J. McCarron said in a statement provided by the Edwards campaign. "In addition to his support for labor, our leadership was particularly impressed with the Senator's strong stand on trade."

"We also believe that Senator Edwards will have a great appeal in a general election," McCarron continued.

Earlier today, the Clinton campaign announced the support of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The machinists union is among the nation’s largest industrial trade unions, representing more than 700,000 active and retired members in airline, aerospace, manufacturing, railroad, woodworking, and shipbuilding industries, the campaign said.

Earlier this week, she announced the support of the 125,000-member United Transportation Union, the first endorsement by a national union in the 2008 campaign.

Dodd, the senator from Connecticut, picked up the endorsement of the International Association of Fire Fighters. The 280,000-strong group supported Massachusetts Senator John F. Kerry in 2004.

Unions, which are a major source of volunteers and money for Democrats, are announcing their choices leading up to Labor Day. The individual unions are making their choices after the AFL-CIO executive council decided Aug. 8 to defer an endorsement -- freeing its 55 affiliates to make their own decisions -- the day after 17,000 union members crowded Soldier Field in Chicago to hear the Democratic hopefuls make their pitches. The executive committee put off an endorsement because at least two-thirds of its members could not settle on a candidate.