The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee has endorsed Obama.

The 80,000-member organization, which has members in all 50 states, cited "a stark distinction between Sen. Obama and Sen. John McCain on major fundamental issues facing the American people today, especially in reforming our broken healthcare system, repairing our collapsing economy, and restoring workplace protections and rights for American workers."

They note, however, that Obama's plan alone is not enough, and that "the only effective solution is a fundamental transformation with a single-payer, improved Medicare-for-all system." They also cite McCain's poor record on health care and labor issues.

(The Tennessee chapter recently issued a report on why Frist is "not fit to be governor of Tennessee.")

Read the CNA/NNOC's full Obama endorsement after the jump...

The nation's largest organization of registered nurses, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, today endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.

In announcing its endorsement, the 80,000-member CNA/NNOC (AFL-CIO), which has members in all 50 states, cited "a stark distinction between Sen. Obama and Sen. John McCain on major fundamental issues facing the American people today, especially in reforming our broken healthcare system, repairing our collapsing economy, and restoring workplace protections and rights for American workers."

"From the shredding of our public safety net, to the transfer of critically needed domestic resources for an irresponsible war, to the abandonment of environmental and labor law safeguards over the past eight years, the need for change in Washington is paramount," said Malinda Markowitz, RN, on behalf of the CNA/NNOC Council of Presidents.

"We have been impressed with Sen. Obama's efforts to broaden, enrich, and revive our democracy by bringing more Americans into our political process and giving them a sense of hope and confidence for a more just, more humane America," Markowitz said.

The endorsement was voted upon by CNA/NNOC's 35-member board, all direct-care RNs. It coincided with an endorsement of Obama today by the AFL-CIO; CNA/NNOC Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro is a national vice president of the AFL-CIO and a member of its Executive Council.

In its endorsement statement, CNA/NNOC also said:

"Our first concern is the disintegrating healthcare system. The unconscionable rise in the number of uninsured and underinsured Americans, the pain and suffering of families who must choose between paying for needed medical care or their mortgage, and the crime of a callous insurance industry refusing to provide care patients need, is the hallmark of the past eight years and a national shame."

"Yet Sen. McCain offers virtually no change in the failures of the Bush administration. His prescription of tax credits for those who can most afford them and further deregulation of an already barely regulated industry will only perpetuate the disparities of a healthcare system which has abandoned so many."

"By contrast, Sen. Obama is at least grappling with ways to achieve universal coverage, to address the financial calamity of those confronting the price-gouging healthcare industry, and to expand regulatory oversight over the insurance companies."

"However, Sen. Obama's plan alone is insufficient. The only effective solution is a fundamental transformation with a single-payer, improved Medicare-for-all system, similar to what exists in every other industrialized nation."

"In his campaign, Sen. Obama has said that if he were starting from scratch he would favor a single-payer approach. America's nurses know that we are starting from scratch. We have hit rock bottom in healthcare, the very reason RNs from coast to coast are campaigning for single-payer reforms."

"It will be our intent to persuade Sen. Obama, and, in January, President Obama, that he should support and sign legislation establishing an American single-payer system."

CNA/NNOC's endorsement statement also called attention to the assault on RN and other workers' rights.

"Under the Bush administration we have experienced an appalling evisceration of federal agencies American workers count on for labor law rights and occupational safety and health. In the past eight years, this administration has shredded numerous public and workplace rights, and put corporate interests in charge of our public agencies.

"Sen. McCain has made it clear that he would continue these policies, a major reason why our economy is faltering and why the Gallup poll just found for the first time in its history that a majority of Americans are pessimistic about their future. More of the same is unimaginable and unacceptable."

"By contrast, Sen. Obama has pledged to restore a system that protects working people, not exploit them. He has also endorsed the Employee Free Choice Act, an important reform to return the right of working people to decide on union representation in an atmosphere free of the employer coercion that has perverted the democratic process in union elections for the past eight years."

"We look forward to working with other AFL-CIO unions to elect a new president and Congress that will reshape America and achieve the changes our people so desperately need and deserve."

CNA/NNOC is the largest and fastest-growing organization of RNs in the U.S. with 80,000 members in all 50 states.