Union Leaders Confronted by Resistance to Obama
According to Steven Greenhouse at the New York Times:
NEENAH, Wis. — When Mike Pyne and other union foot soldiers knock on doors to promote Senator Barack Obama, they often confront a tricky challenge: how to persuade union members to vote on the basis of their wallets rather than on issues like abortion, gun rights and race.
In battleground states like this one, union voters could be vital to the outcome of the election, and the labor movement has mounted a huge push on behalf of Mr. Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, built largely around the message that with unemployment rising, the financial system reeling and gasoline and food prices soaring, the nation cannot afford to have another Republican in the White House.
The labor effort appears to be making headway. Social issues have moved to the background while the economy is foremost in the minds of many voters, and Mr. Obama appears to be benefiting politically. People like Tom Crooks, an electrician at a paper company’s research center, are telling union canvassers that they are “definitely leaning” toward Mr. Obama because they are worried about their financial well-being.
Four years ago, it was not so, Mr. Crooks said. He voted for President Bush, partly because guns were a significant issue for him. (Helped by labor support, John Kerry won Wisconsin by less than one-half of 1 percent of the votes.)
“But this year the economy is very important,” said Mr. Crooks, an Air Force veteran. “My wife is out of work. My son has a job with no medical. My 401(k) is going down.”
His wife’s telemarketing job was outsourced to the Philippines. “A lot of jobs are being lost to foreign countries,” Mr. Crooks said, adding that he disliked the economic ideas of Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee. “I think he’s just out of touch.”...click to continue.
