John Edwards took stage and off top mentioned that Elizabeth Edwards was walking a picket line with UAW strikers in Michigan today.

He told some anecdotal stories of workers fighting for their union rights. He got a couple standing ovations with lines like "We are with you every step of the way and I will be with you every step of the way. When I am president of the US, I will stand with you, I will walk the pickett line with you, I will make sure that america hears your voice, you will not be forgotten." (7mins in)

Edwards is arguably the candidate with the most riding on union support - several applause lines about how he'll always support unions: "I have walked pickett lines, I have been in hunger strikes, I have been in organizing campaigns with over 23 natl unions including every single union represented in this room today. It is not an accident." (11mins in) And shortly after: "I want to be the greatest union president in the history of the united states of america."

And in a line that sounded very similar to Obama's earlier speech:

"How many times have you had politicians come in front of you when it's election time, right. They come in front of you, they want your support and then when the campaign begins, the word union gets stuck in their throat."

Edwards took question on healthcare and compared his plan vs the other candidates appearing at event today... Saying two plans are universal and the other one isn't. He took a further veiled jab at Hillary on health care "we had a disaster in the early 90s trying to get healthcare passed. When I propose universal healthcare, I will never pull the bill... I will stand behind it and do whatever I have to to get it passed." He later added that the audience still has time to ask the other candidate here today about health care plan (Hillary is scheduled up next).

Edwards final gesture before leaving stage was to sign large billboard with title "Make American Dream a Reality 2008."

Barack Obama entered the ballroom at the Hilton Hotel in Chicago to a standing applause after an intro by a local Illinois SEIU leader.

Lot of focus on his community organizer background, with an oblique dig at his opponents at the top of speech: "I didn't just discover working folks on the campaign trial, I have been doing it my whole life."

He said the US needs a president who doesn't choke when saying "union" -- and got a standing ovation for his pledge to always stand by the unions: "my union folks in Illinois already know, I've walked the picket lines before... If it's hot outside, I got a hat. If it's cold outside I got a jacket.. I don't care if I'm in the US senate or the WH, I will make sure I stand with you.."

Addressing experience issue in his terms: "I understand I may not have the experience washington likes, but I have the experience that American needs right now."

Obama responded to an audience question saying "everyone talks an aweful lot about unions when they want to get union endorsements and then the general election comes, and there's no talk of unions."

Mitt Romney won the MI GOP Leadership Conference straw poll with 39% of the 972 votes cast. John McCain finished second with about 27% and Ron Paul finished third with 10%.

No surprise in the winner... Romney is the native son, and like he has with other straw polls, turned out the vote here -- making sure he had the most volunteers and biggest campaign presence on the island. The GOP establishment in the state, represented well at the caucus, is obviously behind him.

McCains strong finish shouldn't be too big a surprise either.He did win MI in 2000, and while he didn't have a ton of people up here, he had enough. He organized a rally friday night, and had media availabilities and well attended events Saturday during the day. There was some palpable enthusiasm for McCain even before his well delivered speech -- although because he held his rallies at the closest sports bar/pub to the hotel, its hard to tell whether folks were excited about the Senator or about football and beer.

Rudy Giuliani dropped in and took off right after his speech, no real presence here so no surprise that he didn't finish in the top three -- though he did finish only a handful of votes behind Paul. Fred Thompson spent more time working the crowds and media, and spoke late saturday so he didn't even have a chance to turn off potential voters with his lackluster speech. But he didn't have many/any volunteers here, no real presence to speak of, and if there's one thing we've learned in straw poll season, its that he who spends the most wins.

McCain arrived about an hour and a half late for a speech at a packed VFW hall in Des Moines (his bus got lost and he also had an unscheduled campaign stop in Atlantic on the way.) McCain seemed a little more energized compared to this morning's event in Council Bluffs. He also encorporated a few newer lines into his speech here:

On bin Laden: (repeating what he said on the morning shows) "As president of the US, I will get him, I will bring Bin Laden to justice."

On Hillary and Iraq:

"(Yesterday) Sen Clinton said Gen. Petraeus' evaluation was a quote, unquote 'willing suspension of disbelief'... What's a willing suspension of disbelief is that Sen. Clinton thinks that she knows more than Gen. Petraeus does about this."

On Petraeus MoveOn.org ad in the NY Times: "We call on every single Democratic candidate running for president of the US to renounce and denounce this ad."

And adding later: "what is another suspension of disbelief is anyone who intends to lead this nation who refuses to renounce and denounce an advertisement that's an attack on the personal honor and dignity of one of the greatest Americans serving this country with diginity and honor and that's Gen. Petraeus." He drove the point home by saying virtually the same thing in his media availability after the speech.

...sort of. All the questions were in Spanish and translated for the candidates, but the answers had to be in English and translated for the Spanish-speaking audience at the Univision-sponsored Democratic presidential debate at the university of Miami.

Nationally, hispanics make up about 8-percent of the voting public. In presidential elections, hispanics -- except for Cuban-Americans -- tend to vote for the Democratic candidate, although President Bush did begin to make some inroads into that constituency in the past 2 elections.

In 2000, 62% of hispanics voted for Vice President Al Gore...35% for then-Governor George Bush. In 2004, Sen John Kerry got 53% of the hispanic vote, and President Bush - 44% -- up 9% from 2000 and the highest percentage ever for a Republican candidate. GOP candidates may not be able to count on that kind of support this time because of the immigration issue.

Even more of a reason, media analyst Marvin Kalb says, to participate in a Spanish-language debate. "It's going to take somebody who has the political courage saying look, I may not agree with you on immigration but I'm your guy on all of the other issues, so vote with me. But the Republicans... That's why i think they made a blunder here."

But Michael Barone says the GOP candidates would have had to walk a tightrope in a Univision debate, trying not to alienate hispanic voters, who tend to favor a quick path to citizenship for illegals -- while also trying not alienate the Republican base, which tends to be much more concerned with border security than in legalizing illegals.

...sort of. All the questions were in Spanish and translated for the candidates, but the answers had to be in English and translated for the Spanish-speaking audience at the Univision-sponsored Democratic presidential debate at the university of Miami.

Nationally, hispanics make up about 8-percent of the voting public. In presidential elections, hispanics -- except for Cuban-Americans -- tend to vote for the Democratic candidate, although President Bush did begin to make some inroads into that constituency in the past 2 elections.

In 2000, 62% of hispanics voted for Vice President Al Gore...35% for then-Governor George Bush. In 2004, Sen John Kerry got 53% of the hispanic vote, and President Bush - 44% -- up 9% from 2000 and the highest percentage ever for a Republican candidate. GOP candidates may not be able to count on that kind of support this time because of the immigration issue.

Even more of a reason, one media analyst says, to participate in a spanish-language debate. "It's going to take somebody who has the political courage saying look, I may not agree with you on immigration but I'm your guy on all of the other issues, so vote with me. But the Republicans... That's why i think they made a blunder here."

But Michael Barone says the GOP candidates would have had to walk a tightrope in a Univision debate, trying not to alienate hispanic voters, who tend to favor a quick path to citizenship for illegals -- while also trying not alienate the Republican base, which tends to be much more concerned with border security than in legalizing illegals.