As part of their independent expenditure campaign on behalf of Hillary Clinton, the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees are going negative, new FEC filings show. The union spent more than $34,000 on mailings produced by Washington-based 360 JMG LLC yesterday, and the required 24-hour notice filed with the FEC shows the mailings, sent to Iowa, are to be used expressly to oppose Barack Obama.

AFSCME has spent more than $985,000 on the presidential race so far, more than $950,000 of it on Clinton's behalf. The mailings hitting Obama are the first negative pieces the union has produced, and are the first independent expenditures of their kind that attack a candidate other than Clinton. As we reported earlier, several groups have spent a combined total of more than $110,000 on advertisements hitting the New York Senator.

Other groups are weighing in on behalf of their candidates as well. The Carpenters' union, backing John Edwards, have spent more than $28,000 on t-shirts for their members on Edwards' behalf. The union has also spent money on rally signs, decals for hard hats and bumper stickers. Vote Hope, a San Francisco-based organization working to bank 500,000 votes for Obama in that state's February 5 primary, has spent at least $38,000 on his behalf.