Democratic Race Sows Labor Disunion

[salin]

Democratic Race Sows Labor Disunion:
Before Gephardt and Dean, Iowa's industrial and service unions were one political force.

By John M. Glionna, Times Staff Writer


DES MOINES — John Campbell is a blue-collar philosopher who routinely steps off the factory floor at the Firestone tire plant here to marshal fellow foot soldiers in the United Steelworkers Union on causes close to their hearts, minds and wallets.

The 47-year-old high school dropout often joins forces with Judy Lowe — a no-nonsense single mother and an organizer for white-collar government workers — to knock on doors, dial telephones and stage cold-weather rallies to get out the vote for politicians sympathetic to working families.

For years, Iowa's industrial and service unions have generally acted as one clan, one unified political force. But the effort to choose a Democratic candidate to oppose President Bush in the 2004 election has caused fissures in this traditionally ironclad solidarity.

Worried over factory closings and loss of jobs, 21 industrial unions across America are backing Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, who is known as labor's man in Washington, D.C. Workers in overalls and hard hats want to show their continued loyalty to a politician who has amassed a near perfect voting record in favor of their causes.

But this month, the nation's two largest service employee unions — the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Service Employees International Union — broke ranks with their labor brethren to support Howard Dean. Not only has the former Vermont governor promised to focus on health care — a key issue for the two unions — but white-collar loyalists say Dean has the best chance of beating Bush and returning the White House to the Democrats.

more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-groundwar29nov29,1,1505421.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[annagull]

1. labor is feeling our problem

red-blooded Democrats are so against this war, the DNC screwed up royally. Now can we get some new blood. Please?

[Born Free]

3. Times they are a changing

I agree, the DLC has lost touch with the democratic base, it's time for the old leaders to step down, we need new, forceful leaders. The politics of America has changed, the bush team uses 9/11 every day to their advantage, we need a democratic leader that can say the things to make Americans realize that 9/11 should not empower the bush team but show their incompetence. We need democratic leaders that are not afraid to question the bush teams poor decisions that allowed American to be in it's current situation. The bush team was wrong about a lot of things and theywere wrong in the way they handled information that could have prevented 9/11. It's time a democratic leader steps up and points all of this out. 9/11 should be a democratic issue, one that benifits the democrats, but the fearful democrats have allowed the bush team to change all the rules and use the bush teams errors to their benifit. Once America realizes 9/11 should have bee prevented had the bush team did the jobs they were being paid to do, the American people will see right through all of this current all war all fear shit. I didn't start out as a Dean supporter, I pledged to give finacial support ( what little I can) to draft Gore, but damn it, Dean is trying to stand up to the bush team - he only needs to break that political advantage the bush team has using 9/11 and show it as it really is, a sign the bush team failed - and the bush team was wrong, just as they were wrong about so many other decisions they made.

[FrenchieCat]

2. Funny,

"but white-collar loyalists say Dean has the best chance of beating Bush and returning the White House to the Democrats."

That not what the polls are saying.....

[Ediacara]

6. you do realize of course...

That all polls showing Clark fairing better than Dean are within the MOE...

[robbedvoter]

4. President Gephardt? The unions as kingmakers

I wrote a little piece on it:
http://Blog.forclark.com/story/2003/11/18/132131/24
a snippet:
Let's look at some history. The only other candidate running for Presidency as often as Larouche is Dick Gephardt.
     He's been running since for ever (1988, 1992 that I know of) and always got ALL UNION support. So, where is the nominee/president Gephardt?
Did Carter get union support? I know Clinton didn't.
Now the unions are at odds with each other - competing in the race - yet one guy who got 1/3 of the endorsement - and not the other- is crowned as the winner.

[salin]

5. Didn't gep bow out of 1992 - BEFORE any race?

I think he was the first person to announce that he was NOT running in 1992. Thus he has only run once before. Though some folks in Washington think that much of his career has been staged to be poised for a run.

Nonetheless, to compare Gep to LaRouche - who has run in every election since at least 1980 - and who has never held an office, who has been elected on mail fraud related to his "campaign fundraising", who worked hard to get a ballot initiative essentially quaranteening AIDS victims, is more than a cheap shot. In my book even putting the two together in a sentence is a bit bogus.