


"All of them are talented and all of them are our candidates," Gerry McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) told a group of union political activists gathered over the weekend in Chicago. The forum will become "the biggest job interview ever," he added with a broad smile.
The labor federation's glee is easy to understand. The candidates' eagerness to court organized labor is viewed as a message that labor is still a major player in national politics, despite its steadily shrinking numbers and a deep division within its ranks, which led to a splinter federation two years ago. Organized labor, with 16 million members, today represents about only one out of eight workers in the U.S.
The AFL-CIO's leaders are similarly pleased by the fact that the candidates' wooing will be very public.
More than 12,000 union members and their families are expected to attend the 90-minute gathering that will be broadcast live on MSNBC and WMAQ and over XM Satellite Radio, starting at 6 p.m. Central time.
In fact, the meeting was switched from McCormick Place West to the massive outdoor field when ticket requests recently soared beyond expectations, union officials said. More than 17,000 tickets have been handed out to unions in the Chicago area, added officials with the half-million member Chicago Federation of Labor.
Besides MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, who will be the moderator, the candidates will field questions from about 10 union members, who have been selected from across the U.S., as well as questions culled from several thousand submitted to the AFL-CIO over the Internet.
Just as the unions hope to gain from the much-publicized debate, the payoff for the candidate that wins labor's embrace can be critical.
LABOR VOTES
As AFL-CIO officials point out, their ability to churn out voters has steadily improved since their political efforts were stepped up in 1996.
Nearly three-fourths of the union members taking part in the 2006 election voted for the union-endorsed candidate, the highest such figure ever, according to Karen Ackerman, the AFL-CIO's political director.
So, too, unions have been able to turn out large numbers of their members and families in traditionally union-friendly states. For example, union households made up 35 percent of the voters in Michigan in 2006 and 32 percent in Illinois, according to Ackerman.
In order to get such numbers, unions have matched traditional techniques with high-tech support, she said. In 2006, union campaign workers were able to knock on 8.2 million doors, send out 30 million pieces of mail and hand out 14 million fliers, she said.
In terms of campaign support, organized labor gave more than $200 million in 2004 to its candidates, according to AFL-CIO officials, and that number is likely to grow in the coming year, labor officials predicted.
AFSCME alone expects to spend more than $50 million, outstripping the $48 million the AFL-CIO spent in 2004, and the Service Employees International Union intends to spend more than $60 million, said SEIU president Andy Stern.
To measure the Democrats' ability to identify with workers, the SEIU has asked them to spend one day doing one of their union member's jobs, and several have already put in their time, Stern said.
One of the union leaders that spurred the competing Change to Win Federation, Stern said his 6 million-member group cooperated with the AFL-CIO in its political efforts last year and would continue to do so.
Ackerman agreed, but added that not all of the rival federation's seven unions have joined in.
A longtime critic of politicians who take unions' support but then ignore them once in office, Stern also noted his union's role in helping set up a new political action committee meant to keep elected officials accountable, Working for US PAC.
AFL-CIO president John Sweeney said he will be especially listening closely at tonight's gathering to hear the candidates' views on health care. "They all have to recognize that the health care issue has to be addressed effectively after they get elected," he explained.
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