Bonior sets tough tone as Edwards' election boss
A fiery union loyalist, former Michigan congressman is not a typical campaign chief.
By Gordon Trowbridge--Detroit News
Monday, June 11, 2007----
CONCORD, N.H.--David Bonior, the Macomb County politician who rose to the top leadership levels of Congress, is not your typical campaign manager.
But as the director of John Edwards' Democratic presidential bid, Bonior says he's staying true to his hardened pro-union beliefs, while also proving to be a nontraditional character on the national campaign stage.
Or in front of it, as the case may be.
New Hampshire Democrats saw the contrast between Macomb County's ex-congressman and the more typical campaign pros at their recent state convention.
When they looked to the stage for Bonior, they were startled by the muffled sound of a bullhorn, carrying his voice from in front of the stage, not quite to the far corners of the room.
The sound system, it seemed, was set up by nonunion labor. And that was an infraction that Bonior was not about to let go by.
"This isn't a job. It's a cause," said Bonior, who rose to the No. 3 leadership position in the U.S. House before stepping down to run for governor. Edwards, Bonior says, is the only major candidate talking about poverty and the plight of working-class families.
"These are things I've cared about all my adult life," said Bonior, whose deep roots and connections in the union movement can only help Edwards in that demographic.
"That appeals to a lot of us who grew up in the movement era, which was in the 1960s."
(...)
Rothenberg criticized what he called Edwards' "seemingly insatiable desire to run to the left -- far to the left."
Bonior, who was passing out political pamphlets before he hit third grade and went on to win 13 terms in Congress before leaving at the end of 2002, has chosen to make what is likely his final political campaign a throwback to the years of his political youth.
(...)
"Michigan is a state that's made for John Edwards' message," Bonior said. "He's a warrior for working people, so it's made for him."
Certainly Bonior's presence is likely to get Edwards more of a hearing with Michigan's auto workers than Barack Obama, whose speech last month to the Detroit Economic Club, criticizing domestic carmakers' lack of progress on fuel mileage, has gotten bad reviews in the state.
(...)
"Organized labor is an important part of presidential politics in terms of manpower, ideas and financial resources," Bonior said. "John Edwards has, I think it's very fair to say, the most support among workers and organized labor of any candidate. I think that will start to manifest itself as we get into the fall."
----
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