B.O.: Hoping... chanting... and touting support... of a losing immigration bill.

By MOLLY BALL
REVIEW-JOURNAL

From the back of the Culinary union hall on Friday, all that could be seen were hundreds of upraised hands -- black, brown and white -- clapping to the chant "Sí se puede."
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This is a union whose members, more than 300 in the stuffy, hot, sour-smelling hall downtown, have been trained to make some serious noise on command, and that is what they did when the presidential candidate whom their leaders decided to support, Democrat Barack Obama, took the stage to accept the endorsement.
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The endorsement has split the union from its biggest allies, including most of the big Democratic names in the state. Union leaders say they never considered themselves part of the party establishment anyway, and they relish what might be an underdog role. But there's no question that the coming days, until Nevada holds presidential caucuses a week from today, will create serious fractures.
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The same slogan the union members were chanting in Spanish inside the Culinary hall was being chanted in English across town, at Del Sol High School on Patrick Lane: "Yes, we can."
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Obama has gained confidence as his campaign has been taken more seriously. "My job," he told the crowd, "is to be so persuasive tonight that even though it's nighttime, a beam of light is going to shine down on me, and you're going to say, 'I have to vote for Barack.'"
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Obama took questions from the audience for more than half an hour. One person wanted to know what he would do about "anchor babies," the term for children of illegal immigrants who are automatically made citizens because they are born on U.S. soil and then serve as "anchors" for their families.

He outlined his position on immigration, essentially the same as the bill that passed the Senate and died in the House last year that would beef up border security while providing avenues for existing illegal immigrants to get legal.
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"The larger point is, we've just seen seven years of an administration that basically believes anything goes if it's for a profit," he said.

"They do not believe in regulation."