NEA to Democrats: Come and Get It
In the wake of the Super Tuesday results, which showed no clear favorite among Democrats, the 3.2-million member National Education Association wants to remind Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama that the union's endorsement is still up for grabs.
With that endorsement comes access to hundreds of thousands of NEA volunteers, who could prove crucial in the political ground game.
In a press release issued this morning, NEA President Reg Weaver said neither Obama nor Clinton has made the case that would earn them the association’s recommendation. “There have been dozens of debates but less than a handful of questions about the future role of the federal government in public education,” says Weaver.
He continued: "If they haven’t made education a central part of their campaigns, how can we feel confident that they will make education a central part of their administration?”
Perhaps the NEA should be doing more to support the efforts of ED in '08, whose goal is precisely that: to make education a central part of presidential campaigns.
The NEA has probably heard enough about the Democrats' education ideas, but is hedging its bets for fear of endorsing a losing candidate. Or maybe the NEA is as divided as the rest of the Democratic Party.
