The other day I wrote about the criteria I thought should be used by labor in choosing who to support for president (commenters provided useful additions, including where the candidate stands on immigration). Today, The Wall Street Journal has a piece on the topic, written out of Las Vegas where the AFL-CIO is holding its executive council meeting.

The first sentence is something I think is true:

John Edwards appears to be organized labor’s favorite
presidential candidate right now, but as unions try to maximize clout
and pick a winner, they could very well change their minds.

Edwards clearly has a lot of support mainly because he has been there:

“I’m very impressed with John Edwards because he’s a
candidate that comfortably uses the word ‘union,'” said Harold
Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Fire
Fighters. “Here’s somebody who said the union movement is something
this country should be proud of, that it is critical to rebuilding the
middle class.”

Many in the labor movement view Mr. Edwards as one of
their own. His father worked in a mill and his brother is a member of
the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

In the 2004 election, Mr. Edwards received only one
major labor endorsement for the presidential nomination, instead
becoming the Democratic nominee for vice president. Since then, labor
experts say, Mr. Edwards has deliberately tried to become the union
candidate. Mr. Edwards’s selection of David Bonior, a former Michigan
congressman with strong ties to the AFL-CIO, as his campaign manager is
widely seen as an effort to further shore up labor’s support.

In the past two years, Mr. Edwards has participated in
85 labor actions, joining demonstrations and organizing drives,
including visiting hotel workers and trying to make beds and clean
rooms under conditions faced by workers, as well as calling CEOs on
behalf of unions, according to Mr. Bonior.

Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers, said
Mr. Edwards contacted the union to lend support during the recent
strike against Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., and joined picket lines
with workers. “That made a big impact on our members,” said Mr. Gerard.
In December, the AFL-CIO made its strongest statement of support so far
for Mr. Edwards by giving him its Paul Wellstone Award for supporters
of labor rights.

We will see how things unfold. As I pointed out in the piece a few days ago, personally, I’d hope that the labor movement supports and sticks with someone who actually believes in unions–and that labor uses the support for the candidate, win or lose, to move the public debate on unions’ role in protecting workers.