(CNN) – Democratic White House hopeful John Edwards, who has made a strong push for union support on the campaign trail, picked up two major endorsements Monday, making him the leading candidate for labor endorsements in the presidential field.
The United Steelworkers and the United Mine Workers of America announced their support of Edwards at a rally in downtown Pittsburgh this Labor Day. In a statement, Steelworkers president Leo Gerard said, "All of the Democratic candidates in the field share our values, and any one of them would be a major improvement over the current administration. But none of them is a more forceful advocate for those values than John Edwards. Senator Edwards is committed, as he has been throughout his life, to going to bat for everyday Americans and to changing a broken political system that leaves millions of Americans without a voice in their government."
Edwards told the boisterous rally, “America was not built on Wall Street. America was built by steelworkers and mine workers.”
The Steelworkers in endorsement called Edwards the most electable Democrat in the general election. The candidate said on stage, “I am proud of the fact that these great unions are supporting and endorsing me, and that they said, in the endorsement, that John Edwards is the candidate for president who can campaign and win, in Pennsylvania, in Ohio, in West Virginia, all the places in America where we have to be able to compete and win. I will campaign everywhere”
Full story: Edwards picks up two major union endorsements
- CNN Political Desk Managing Editor Steve Brusk
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