Sunday, June 3, 2007 | 7:11 a.m.
As the third presidential candidate to parade past members of Las Vegas' Culinary Union this week, John Edwards knew he would have to make a lasting impression.
So he started with his dress. Blue jeans. Checkered shirt. Open collar. No tie. (Take that, Ms. Pants Suit and Mr. Slacks-and-Dress-White!)
And then he opened his remarks to a few hundred workers like this: "I'm not here to talk about the presidential campaign at all."
Really?
He continued: "I want to talk about you, and how important you are."
An audience member shouted, "Thank you."
Edwards had them at hello, and soon took things a step farther than his less casually dressed Democratic rivals, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. He promised them "comprehensive national labor law reform."
Edwards said he not only supported federal legislation that would make it easier for workers to organize - a favorite talking point for Democratic candidates, but favored laws that would ban the replacement of striking workers and bind employers to honor collective bargaining agreements.
"The union movement is crucial for the long-term economic security of America," he said. It's also crucial, some say, to winning the Nevada Democratic caucus on Jan. 19. With 60,000 members, the Culinary Union, comprising hotel and restaurant workers, will provide ready-made organizational muscle to whichever candidate it endorses.
Unlike his two rivals, Edwards kept the spotlight firmly trained on the union's contract negotiations, rarely slipping into other talking points of the campaign. The Culinary is now in extended talks with MGM Mirage and Harrah's Entertainment.
At one point, he said, "I'm not going to talk about Iraq. We need to get out. Everybody knows that." He then pledged to stand with the union if contract talks went sour.
The intense focus is no surprise. Since the 2004 election Edwards has worked hard to cultivate a strong relationship with the American labor movement.
Last year the former North Carolina senator joined a nationwide campaign staged by UNITE HERE, the Culinary's parent union, aimed at organizing hotel workers in Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco. And on Saturday, he referred to his experiences on picket lines, saying he had seen firsthand the coercion and intimidation workers suffer at the hands of corporate employers.
He also briefly noted his participation in the Nevada AFL-CIO's successful drive to raise the state's minimum wage last year, though he gave the credit to the union.
At one point he talked about his experience growing up as the son of a mill worker, saying he had seen up close "the strength and backbone" of working people.
"America doesn't need politicians and presidential candidates rolling through union halls promising what they'll do unless they stand with you when they're not running for president," Edwards said.
Obama took a similar tack Friday, emphasizing his background as a community organizer in Chicago, where he fought to counteract the massive unemployment caused by closing steel plants, and his picketing of the Congress Hotel there, where workers have been on strike for nearly four years.
"I don't just talk the talk," Obama said. "I've walked the walk."
Clinton, on the other hand, while demonstrating detailed knowledge of the union and its contract, relied largely on policy solutions. The New York senator didn't try selling herself as one of them.
All three candidates were in broad agreement on the issues important to the union: organizing rights, guaranteed health and pension benefits, and immigration reform. Yet each strived to make a personal connection.
Afterward, Edwards told reporters that he was committed to running a full-scale campaign in Nevada. Edwards is leading in polls in Iowa, due in no small part to the fact that he's virtually lived there since the 2004 election. He trails Clinton and Obama in Nevada polls.
"We will do all of the hard groundwork we've done in Iowa," Edwards said. "I intend to compete hard here and stand with working people."
So far, like Obama, Edwards has run a low-key campaign in the state. Clinton is running a high-profile operation, announcing three big endorsements last week alone. Perhaps things will pick up with the arrival of the Edwards campaign's state director, Bill Hyers.
Hyers, who was announced by the national campaign in March, had been managing the campaign of Philadelphia mayoral candidate Michael Nutter, a former Democratic city councilman, and arrived in Las Vegas on Friday.
He was also part of Edwards' Iowa campaign in 2004.
Good news for Edwards: Nutter won the Democratic nomination, with more than 36 percent of the vote in a five-way race - and without the benefit of big endorsements.
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