The Service Employees International Union gave Barack Obama its highly prized endorsement on Friday afternoon.

The S.E.I.U.'s endorsement is especially coveted because the union has 1.9 million members and has a rank-and-file that is far more politically active than most other unions'. Moreover, its political action committee is expected to collect more than $30 million this campaign, making it one of the biggest PACs in the nation.
In a telephone news conference announcing the endorsement, Andy Stern, the union's president, said: "This is about more than one election. It's about building for the next generation of America. Barack Obama is creating the broadest and deepest coalition of voters we've ever seen."

The union's executive board cast ballots by email and fax on Thursday night, and union officials were unable to finish the tallying until Friday.

With John Lewis, the Democratic Congressman from Georgia and former civil rights leader, indicating on Thursday that he intends to cast his vote as a superdelegate for Mr. Obama, the S.E.I.U.'s endorsement is expected to further build momentum for Mr. Obama after his wins in eight consecutive contests. Mr. Stern, like Mr. Lewis, said it would not be a good idea for superdelegates to ultimately choose the nominee in what could be a highly divided Democratic convention in August....(NYT)