Unions Ride Dem Wave
    By Sam Youngman
    The Hill

    Wednesday 28 March 2007

    Big Labor is this week putting the seal on what its leaders say is a "renaissance" that has rescued it from the abyss of 2004 and put it back at the center of Democratic Party politics.

    Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), the three leading contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, sought out the endorsement of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) yesterday, holding court at the union's legislative conference at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill.

    This morning the entire slate of Democratic candidates, joined by Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), are scheduled to address a presidential forum sponsored by the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO.

    The forum will be the fifth of its kind this year - three have been held in the federal capital - as organized unions are enjoying what they say is "a real feeling of re-emergence."

    Labor officials acknowledge that 2004 was one debacle after another, giving many political analysts the material they had been waiting for to write obituaries of Big Labor's political life.

    But after taking credit for much of Democrats' success in last year's midterms, labor officials say they are again major players as the many Democratic presidential candidates jockey for union endorsements.

    "We didn't leave, but I don't think we were as effective as we were after the 2006 elections," said James Williams, general president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.

    "It's partly a renaissance," added Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

    McEntee says President Bush has been the biggest factor in organized labor's reemergence, but he adds that an accelerated presidential election leading to a condensed primary season also has played a significant role.

    At this week's forums and those before them, rank-and-file members are treated as visiting dignitaries, warranting the presence of and courtship from the Democratic White House hopefuls.

    Taken together with the International Fire Fighters Association Forum earlier this month and two forums hosted by unions in the early-voting state of Nevada, Big Labor has gotten involved early and intensely in an effort to reassert its relevance to Democratic politics.

    With McEntee pledging his union will spend much more than the $44 million AFSCME doled out in 2006, the candidates have a clear reason to ask, time and again, for Big Labor's support.

    "All of the candidates are basically saying the words 'organized labor.' They're saying the word 'union,'" Williams said.

    Just hearing those words from candidates' mouths, officials say, is a marked difference from the disastrous campaign of 2004, when the unions split their endorsements between former Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.), former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (D) and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).

    That split, they concede, significantly weakened their hand, and McEntee is the first to admit that his union's early endorsement of Dean was a devastating mistake.

    This cycle, Big Labor is working hard to flex its muscle, and most officials say one way to do that is through exhaustive forums and thorough interviews with the candidates.

    But while forums and interviews are important, labor presidents say the biggest cards up their sleeve are unity and patience.

    Earlier this month, the AFL-CIO's general council, meeting in Las Vegas, voted unanimously to hold off on individual union endorsements until the general board makes a decision.

    "I think the waiting will work," McEntee said. "I think everybody's willing to hold their fire."

    That said, McEntee said his union wants to be involved early, mobilized for a candidate as soon as possible.

    AFSCME and other unions are running search committees parallel to that of the overall AFL-CIO's in the event that no candidate is able to garner the two-thirds vote necessary to score the prize endorsement.

    Should that two-thirds not materialize, McEntee said, "we'll be ready to go and participate and have boots on the ground."

    It's to that end that the Democratic field has been aggressively pursuing labor endorsements with the kind of frequency traditionally reserved for New Hampshire house parties.

    The condensed primary schedule, which now includes so-called Super-Duper Tuesday, means that early organization in dozens of states can be the difference between the nomination and a commentating spot on one of the cable news channels.

    Few candidates can be expected to have the money to advertise on television in states like California and New Jersey, but an endorsement from the union equals instant organization, fundraising, phone banks and knocks on doors.

    In the past, words and phrases such as "collective bargaining" and "the right to organize" were considered taboo, as Democrats, with notable exceptions, feared being branded as hostages to Big Labor.

    Now, in forum after forum, candidates boast of the time they've spent on picket lines, and a mention of the need for collective bargaining rights almost always elicits a standing ovation.

    With some members, those speeches are working.

    "Until today, I never would've thought about supporting Hillary," a union official with the CWA from Greensboro, N.C., Ron Bauer, said.

    Bauer said that after doing some research on his own, if he can believe the statements Clinton made while addressing the CWA are accurate, he might support her bid.

    Edwards, according to conventional wisdom, is considered a top-tier candidate largely because of the immense amount of time he has spent with labor unions in Iowa and Nevada during the last two years.

    New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) has a union fan base because he reintroduced collective bargaining rights as governor.

    McEntee said all of the candidates running have good relationships with the unions in their own states, and those pre-existing relationships are making the endorsement process more difficult than ever.

    Many observers think the AFSCME endorsement is already Clinton's because of McEntee's existing relationship with her and former President Bill Clinton.

    Yet he insists that with large bases in Illinois, where members "love" Obama, and hometown crowds supporting the campaigns of Sens. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), the group's endorsement truly is up for grabs.