Hoffa holds commanding lead in Teamster election

With about 70 percent of the votes counted, James P. Hoffa appears well on his way to a third term as president of the Teamsters union.

With about 170,000 votes tabulated as of 2: 30 p.m. Eastern time today, Hoffa had received more than 97,000 votes. One of his opponents, Fred Gegare, chairman of the board of trustees of the union's Central States pension plan, had received slightly more than 42,000 votes. Sandy Pope, head of Teamster Local 805, had more than 30,000 votes. The results are unofficial and were found on Pope's website. If Pope were to win, she would become the first female Teamster president in the union's 108-year history.

As of mid-afternoon, all votes from the Central, Southern, and Eastern regions had been tallied. Still to be counted are votes from the Western United States and from Canada. All told, an estimated 245,000 out of 1.3 million Teamsters cast ballots.

The winner will serve a five-year term.