By wplog

Published Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2007 | 2:42 p.m.

Updated Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008 | 2:14 p.m.

The Clinton campaign again adroitly sidestepped a union's endorsement process.

The campaign announced today the endorsement of 350 teachers. (The Nevada State Education Association has about 28,000 members.) A source close to the teachers union says the union likely won't endorse.

The Clinton campaign probably sensed this fact, and comes out with its own quasi-endorsement announcement with the 350 names. Smart politics. A couple weeks ago, this played out with the SEIU. When it became clear the SEIU likely wouldn't endorse Clinton, the Clinton camp announced the names of a couple hundred nurses, including many SEIU nurses, who'd endorsed Clinton. That served to undercut anything the SEIU does from here on out.

My colleague Tony Cook and I discovered the endorsement confusion was a sign of deeper chaos in the SEIU.

There's no evidence of deeper turmoil with the teachers. Likely, they're happy with the three top-tier candidates and see no reason to get mixed up in an endorsement. I have a call in to Lynn Warne, the president of the union, to get her

reaction.

Separately, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson won Nevada IBEW today. They represent about 2,400 workers.

So who's left among the big unions, if the teachers decide once and for all at their December meeting not to endorse?

Culinary.