Labor ally may shepherd Edwards' campaign (News & Observer)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/518215.html

Labor ally may shepherd Edwards' campaign

Rob Christensen and Barbara Barrett, Staff Writers
David Bonior, a former top Democratic congressman from Michigan and a key ally of organized labor, is expected to manage John Edwards' likely 2008 presidential campaign.

Bonior has been hired as a senior adviser to Edwards' leadership PAC, the One America Committee, Kim Rubey, a committee spokeswoman said Tuesday.

But Bonior's role on the One America Committee is expected to morph into the job of Edwards' campaign manager if, as expected, Edwards announces in the coming weeks that he will run for president.

The One America Committee has been negotiating for space in the Southern Village development in Orange County that would likely become Edwards' campaign headquarters if he gets into the race.

In choosing Bonior, Edwards is bringing in someone with strong ties to organized labor. Edwards is counting on labor to help his campaign get off to a fast start in the Iowa and Nevada Democratic caucuses in January 2008. Last week, Edwards was in Los Angeles in support of hotel workers seeking a living wage law.

Bonior served 26 years in the House, rising to become the second-ranking Democrat before running for governor of Michigan in 2002. Since then, he has been a professor of labor studies at Wayne State University in Detroit.

The selection of Bonior is likely to underscore Edwards' "Two Americas" theme about economic disparities that was central to his 2004 presidential campaign, as well as his emphasis on reducing poverty.

Bonior sees himself as a spokesman for the forgotten blue-collar workers. He was a leading opponent of the North American Free Trade Agreement, calling it "basically the sellout of workers."