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September 14, 2006

Chafee or Whitehouse? State AFL-CIO to vote tonight

PROVIDENCE -- The state's largest labor union will vote tonight on which U.S. Senate candidate to endorse, a move that could give the moderate Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee or his Democratic challenger Sheldon Whitehouse a major boost less than two months before the election.

Labor leaders, who typically endorse the Democratic candidates, have acknowledged that it's a tough call.

The meeting of the state chapter of the AFL-CIO will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Rhode Island Convention Center. The chapter has 80,000 members, who could offer either candidate the potential of a large block of voters, financial support or campaign volunteers.

Chafee lobbied labor leaders yesterday for the endorsement. Chafee has harvested more labor money than any other Republican in the U.S. Senate.

Union members could vote to endorse either candidate, or they could vote to endorse neither. An endorsement requires a two-thirds majority vote.

Should support fail to reach that percentage -- which would be a small victory for Chafee -- neither candidate would have the official endorsement.

Get more background in today's Journal story.

Posted by Steve Peoples  at 5:47 PM | Permalink

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