Endorsements trickling in

The International Association of Fire Fighters on Tuesday endorsed Chris Dodd for President:

Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, has a new way of going for the gut.

His 281,000-member union will promote U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd by bringing him to as many firehouses as possible - and that means "we're going to bring the candidate to the chili feeds," Schaitberger said.

Let the voters come - "we're gonna feed 'em," he said.

He recalled Dodd's legislative history - the senator has led the fight for major bills to help firefighters win more funding - and said members value Dodd's experience.

Now, Dodd and Schaitberger will travel to key electoral states and see how much voters value the firefighters' method of wooing them.

They plan to start at Firehouse 3 in Iowa City today, followed by stops in Des Moines and Council Bluffs. Friday, they move on to New Hampshire, and then head for Nevada Saturday.

It's certainly not the biggest union, nor perhaps the most prominent, but the IAFF is a politically powerful organization. They were the one union that endorsed John Kerry before his Iowa win, and they were with him at all times throughout the campaign, in as many campaign photos and events as possible.

Now, that may have been a unique time for firefighters, given the prominence they played and the unbelievable bravery they showed on and after 9/11. That's still politically viable, but given the unfortunate political exhaustion of 9/11, the endorsement may not be as potent. Still, a surprise coup for Dodd.

Next came United Transportation Workers for Hillary:

The United Transportation Union, representing 125,000 active and retired bus and railroad workers, gave Clinton its support, the first of 55 AFL-CIO affiliates to announce its 2008 choice.

"The UTU has a long history of picking winners early," said its president, Paul Thompson, in a statement e-mailed by Clinton's campaign. "Time and again, as a United States senator, she has stood with us."

Just minutes ago, another endorsement for Hillary:

From NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro: Clinton, per her campaign, has just picked up her second labor union endorsement this week -- from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

IAMAW is a 700,000 person union that, for the first time, is also endorsing a Republican, since a much higher percentage of their workers vote for the GOP (100,000+ members). The only Republican to accept their invitation, they also endorsed Huckabee today.