One of Nevada’s largest unions – the Service Employees International Union – has scheduled a conference call with its executive board to discuss a potential presidential endorsement tonight at 8:30 p.m., according to several board members.
The union represents 17,500 healthcare and public sector workers in Nevada and decided last week to wait for the results of today’s New Hampshire primary to endorse, board members said.

Some expect the local’s leadership to push for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. He won the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucus Thursday and was leading in polls during the run-up to today’s primary in New Hampshire.

If a decision is reached – and there’s no guarantee one will be – it would come around the same time as a decision by the Culinary Union and parent UNITE HERE, who are also scheduled to discuss an endorsement tonight.

If both go for Obama, it would be a tremendous boost for his campaign here.

In recent years, the SEIU has been considered a politically powerful player in Nevada politics, but the endorsement process has been a messy for the union. Check out this Sun story about the process, and this one about how the union’s internal struggles might have an impact on its endorsement