


“Our economy is in crisis after years of failed Bush Administration policies that Sen. McCain supports and has adopted as his own,” Ackerman said. “Sen. McCain’s record shows he’s in lockstep with President Bush on economic issues. He’s voted repeatedly for trade deals that ship our jobs overseas, he’s voted against protecting overtime pay, he’s voted against health insurance for children and he supports the Bush Social Security privatization plan. McCain is Bush No. 3.”
“McCain Revealed” will educate voters on his record and call on Sen. McCain to support working families’ concerns through a variety of communications tactics, focused heavily on person-to-person contact. In the coming weeks the AFL-CIO will communicate with union voters at the workplace, doorstep, by phone, online and through direct mail.
The AFL-CIO also launched a website, www.mccainrevealed.org, which conveys the McCain record to the public and the labor movement’s urging that Sen. McCain turn the page and stand up for working families.
“It’s clear that John McCain hopes to conduct his campaign without ever having to explain his economic priorities to working people,” Ackerman said. “Public opinion polls show the economy is the top concern of voters, yet Sen. McCain has said very little about his economic positions and, as a result, working families know very little about where he stands on pocketbook concerns. That all changes today.”
Ackerman detailed the elements of the campaign:
* The five top-tier priority states for the campaign are Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota;
* The AFL-CIO will reach more than 13 million union voters in battleground states, including more than 6.7 million in the five priority states;
* Everywhere John McCain goes in the coming months, union activists will be there to confront him on economic issues and demand that he speak to working families’ concerns. In the past two weeks, union members have held actions at McCain events in Cleveland, Cincinnati, St. Louis and New Hampshire;
* In the next two weeks, more than 100,000 worksite leaflets on the McCain record will be distributed to union members. By the end of April, that number will be 425,000 worksite leaflets;
* On May 17 the AFL-CIO will hold a national canvass in which union volunteers will knock on 400,000 union voters’ doors, in one day, with information on John McCain’s economic record;
* The McCain Revealed campaign will employ the most sophisticated voter communication strategies including microtargeting to ensure union households are receiving the information they want on John McCain.
“The AFL-CIO intends to lead the way in the coming months to turn our country in a new direction,” Ackerman said.
(allamericanpatriots.com)