Labor in Ohio targets McCain

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.cleveland.com/news/naymik/index.ssf?/base/opinion-0/1206433860158420.xml&coll=2

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Plain Dealer Columnist

Republican presidential candidate John McCain finally has an oppo nent in Ohio.

Leading up to Ohio's March 4 primary, he ran virtually unchallenged by candidates from his own party, and Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were too busy knocking each other to worry about the U.S. senator from Arizona.

But McCain now faces an old foe of Republicans: the AFL-CIO, which plans to spend $53 million over the next several months in 23 states to portray him as the bogeyman in the middle class's nightmares.

The AFL-CIO is targeting Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, where concerns about the economy run deeper than those about national security, McCain's strength.

Beginning early next month, the labor organization will reach out to 13 million union voters, including about 2 million in Ohio.

The labor group plans to reach union members through fliers, porch and work-place visits, calls and public demonstrations at McCain events. It will criticize him largely on domestic issues - everything from his health-care policies to his position on trade and the foreclosure crisis - and play up his ties to an unpopular president whenever possible.

FULL story at link.

[Juche]

1. Wonderful

One of my biggest gripes (if not the biggest) with DLC democrats is their lack of interest in the labor movement.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/05/10/labor_law_reform_not_just_for_unions.php

"Had union membership reached even 15 percent of the workforce, Kerry would have won by a significant margin."

Rebuilding the labor movement by EFCA and a NLRB that actually believe in unions is going to pay dividends for a long time for progressive politics.

Hell, labor spent over $200 million in 2006 trying to elect democrats. Imagine if all those people who want to join unions were able to, how much more influential groupls like the AFL-CIO could be.