SEIU's Swisher Hopeful for Rules, Edwards

SEIU's Swisher Hopeful for Rules, Edwards

The rules committee of the Democratic National Committee voted Saturday to take away all of Michigan's national convention delegates because the state broke party scheduling rules with its Jan. 15 primary.

One member of the rules committee hopes the party sticks to its guns and enforces the rules, despite widespread speculation that the eventual presidential nominee will seat the delegates from Michigan and Florida. "Every state had an opportunity to apply fro the early window," said Sarah Swisher of Iowa City, the Iowa Democratic Party's vice chair. Roughly 15 states applied for early primaries in mid-2006, and the rules committee narrowed down the list to Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina in that order.

Swisher immediately said "no" when asked if the date controversy might mean 2008 will be Iowa's last time with the first turn. "We've seen more campaign activity than ever this cycle." Her own office, the Coralville headquarters of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 199, was a bustle of activity on a weekday morning. Iowa's SEIU has endorsed John Edwards.

The international union did not make an endorsement as some state unions favored other candidates (Illinois SEIU, for example, backed home state senator Barack Obama), but a majority of the union is with Edwards.

"We regrouped for about 10 days" after the national didn't endorse, said Swisher, "but now we're back on track." Members from as far as California were hitting the phones, but Swisher doesn't expect the kind of backlash that the orange hat out of state Howard Dean volunteers got in 2004. "This is union members talking to union members, and there's a lot of precedent for that in the caucuses. We've got the hard working members who are going to win this for John Edwards."

Recent polls have show Edwards slipping into third in Iowa after leading most of the way, but Swisher is unfazed. "Remember, at this point in 2003, John Kerry and John Edwards were at about 5 percent. It's early yet."