Posted on 08/31/2006 1:00:14 AM PDT by Mo1
WASHINGTON -- Big labor rolled out an ambitious $40 million plan Wednesday to help Democrats win key races in 21 states, including Connecticut - but analysts say the union effort offers few guarantees of success.
AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney and political director Karen Ackerman methodically detailed how unions would blitz the targeted states with phone calls, volunteer recruitment, e-mail pleas and special efforts to talk to union family members about candidates
With the Democrats needing net gains of 15 House and six Senate seats to control Congress for the first time in 12 years, Sweeney talked tough.
"This Labor Day," he said, "it appears that a perfect storm is gathering that may well sweep away Republican control of the Congress this fall."
Republicans scoffed. "They said the same kinds of things in 2002 and 2004. Look at the record," said Ed Patru, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. The AFL-CIO spent an estimated $35 million to mobilize its voters in the last midterm election, but the GOP retained control of both the House and Senate.
Ackerman insisted that the AFL-CIO will make a particularly strong effort to topple Connecticut's three Republican House incumbents.
The biggest surprise in labor's Connecticut effort this year may be its backing away from Rob Simmons, 2nd District, who calls himself a "big labor Republican."
Ackerman had kind words for the three-term incumbent. "Simmons has been close to us and voted with us on a lot of things," she said, "but we felt the stakes this time were higher."
Chris Healy, Simmons' campaign manager, said he was unworried, noting that his candidate has been endorsed by a handful of local unions and has received about $140,000 from union political arms in the current election cycle.
While the AFL-CIO tries to help the congressional candidates, it is likely to stay out of the Connecticut Senate race between incumbent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, who is running as an independent, and Democratic nominee Ned Lamont.
The state AFL-CIO endorsed Lieberman in the primary, and the senator has long enjoyed labor support. He was re-endorsed last week by 16 different local unions, while Lamont got the backing of the Service Employees International Union.
But the race is not expected to get national help because, Ackerman said, "Labor activists tell us that the movement is not unified on an endorsement."
State AFL-CIO President John W. Olsen said he "won't convene a meeting unless I see a consensus" for an endorsement. To get labor's nod, a candidate would need two-thirds of affiliated AFL-CIO union members.
So far, all five Democratic House candidates and gubernatorial nominee John DeStefano have won endorsements.
Olsen was enthusiastic about the national help, saying, "It matters a lot. All of a sudden there's all this energy."
For years, though, political experts have questioned just how much labor's endorsement means. National membership has been declining for decades, and last year the movement was rocked by seven insurgent unions that split from the AFL-CIO and formed Change to Win. Those unions, which represent about 6 million workers, include the service workers, Teamsters and United Food and Commercial Workers.
It's unclear whether the AFL-CIO, which has about 9 million members, and Change to Win will work together this fall on behalf of labor-backed candidates. Ackerman said a "majority" of the seven unions would be allies, but would not name them. In Connecticut, the Change to Win unions remain in the state AFL-CIO.
The unions' other problem is that their national efforts have been largely unsuccessful in recent years. They pushed hard to elect Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry two years ago, and though an estimated 70 percent of union members voted for Kerry, he still lost.
But midterm elections are a series of hundreds of local and statewide races that often hinge on very localized issues. As Ackerman said, 2006 is an election where turnout is crucial, as opposed to 2004, where persuading people to vote for Kerry was the most important strategy.
"In an unusually competitive year, all the little things count more," said Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Marist (N.Y.) Institute for Public Opinion. All the get-out-the-vote phone calls and mailings from unions and other interest groups can make a difference, he said.
Think crime, think SEIU!
Surprise, surprise.
"Big labor" would naturally be the Democrats' most reliable ally in their effort to turn America into a French-style, secular-socialist welfare state. Woo hoo! Thirty-five hour work-weeks with paid month-long vacations here we come!
BTTT
No news here............just move along.
Yes, Union Members, Keep voting with / for your Friends....until they stab you in the back and lose your job(s)...they'll keep their.
Big labor has always been behind the Democrat party.
Symbiosis of scum.
I thought the democrats opposed 'special interest' groups?
General Motors rolls out $40,000,000 advertising blitz backing Republicans.
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