MoveOn.Org and SEIU Endorse Barack Obama

Updates Below.

MoveOn.org, the progressive grassroots political action group that touts 3.2 million members, has formally endorsed Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic Nomination for President. The organization had emailed it's members this week requesting that they vote their choice in a secure, online poll. From the press release:

In a resounding vote today, MoveOn.org Political Action's members nationwide voted to endorse Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for President. The group, with 3.2 million members nationwide and over 1.7 million members in Super Tuesday states, will immediately begin to mobilize on behalf of Senator Obama. The vote favored Senator Obama to Senator Clinton by 70.4% to 29.6%.

Senator Obama accepted the endorsement stating:

"In just a few years, the members of MoveOn have once again demonstrated that real change comes not from the top-down, but from the bottom-up. From their principled opposition to the Iraq war - a war I also opposed from the start - to their strong support for a number of progressive causes, MoveOn shows what Americans can achieve when we come together in a grassroots movement for change. I thank them for their support and look forward to working with their members in the weeks and months ahead."

[...]

And in very breaking news, the SEIU (who had endorsed Edwards) has announced it's support of Barack Obama as well. From MSNBC:

The 600,000-member union had been behind Edwards and has now moved to Obama -- the second reported union to do so. NBC News reported yesterday afternoon that the 200,000-member Transportation Workers Union was set to switch from Edwards to Obama today as well, now that the former North Carolina Senator has suspended his campaign.

I'll update with more information as it becomes available.

At first glance it appears that the MoveOn endorsement will do well for grabbing portions of the Edwards supporters. However, we can absolutely expect to see the Republicans making great hay out this particular nod - especially with the MoveOn Petreus/Betray Us ad in the New York Times still fresh in everyone's minds.

The SEIU (Service Employee's Internation Union should give Obama a boost both among former Edward's supporters as well a some traction in California on Super Tuesday, February 5.

Update: Additional congressional endorsements for Obama since Wednesday here. ColorofChange also endorses Obama today:

More than 16,000 of you participated in our online poll, and a clear winner emerged: Barack Obama, with more than 69% of the total votes. John Edwards edged out Hillary Clinton by a narrow margin, and after Edwards left the race, a majority of his supporters indicated in a follow up poll that they would move to support Obama.