Chicago Tribune: Democrats debate; unions delight tonight

[Omaha Steve]

Democrats debate; unions delight

In national spotlight, candidates to court Big Labor in Chicago

By Stephen Franklin | Tribune staff reporter
August 7, 2007

They will probably sound like a giant barbershop quartet, singing different notes in the same song.

And that's perfectly fine with leaders of the AFL-CIO, who are savoring the prospect of the Tuesday night debate among seven Democratic presidential candidates that the labor federation is sponsoring at Soldier Field.

"All of them are talented and all of them are our candidates," Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees told a group of union political activists this weekend in Chicago. The forum will be "the biggest job interview ever," he added with a broad smile.

The labor federation's glee is easy to understand.

The candidates' eagerness to court organized labor is viewed as a message that labor is still a major player in national politics, despite its steadily shrinking numbers and a deep division within its ranks that led to a splinter federation two years ago. Organized labor, with 16 million members, today represents about only 1 out of 8 workers in the U.S.

The AFL-CIO's leaders are similarly pleased by the fact that the candidates' wooing will be very public.

FULL story at link.