MSNBC: TONIGHT'S FORUM

[Omaha Steve]

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/08/07/306543.aspx

The Washington Post's Balz looks at Edwards' attempt to unify labor behind his candidacy. "Labor officials begin this campaign cycle in a more combative frame of mind, feeling they have been burned by candidates who check the right boxes on questionnaires but then do not fight hard for labor's interests once in office."

Click here for more on MSNBC's Super Tuesday political coverage and tonight's Democratic forum in Chicago: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/

Bloomberg News also notes Edwards' courtship of labor support, and it has an anecdote about Teamsters' president James Hoffa being so smitten by Edwards' position that he decided to ask both Clinton and Obama whether they agreed with Edwards. But is that good for Edwards? Isn't this Hoffa anecdote proof that many in Big labor don't want to blindly support Edwards but are hoping to use him as a way to keep both Obama and Clinton from running away from labor's key issues?

Also in the article: "Hillary Clinton … has already put some distance between herself and the free-trade policies of the administration of her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Edwards's plank may force her to go further, starting tonight with the Democratic presidential candidates' forum before the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest labor federation… Tonight's AFL-CIO forum could be important for Obama, 46, who hasn't said a great deal about trade. He has said Nafta should be renegotiated and has broken with businesses that want to lower barriers to trade and capital… Obama, like Edwards and Clinton, also calls for labor and environmental provisions in trade accords and policies that address workers' interests, not just those of big business, without being as tough or as specific as Edwards."

Both Edwards and Obama are likely to share this piece about Mark Penn to any labor union that might be leaning towards Clinton: The AFL-CIO, the Los Angeles Times reports, isn't happy about Penn. “‘Learning that Mark Penn was CEO of a company that in fact conducts some of its business busting unions was very, very problematic to the AFL-CIO, as well as to many other unions, and we made that clear’ to the Clinton campaign, said Karen Ackerman, AFL-CIO political director. ‘This is an issue that continues.’”

“Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa said in a statement: ‘We have expressed our concerns to Sen. Clinton about Mark Penn and his firm's work for anti-union companies. We value Sen. Clinton's commitment to strengthen America's middle class. But as long as Mark Penn continues to profit from his company's involvement with anti-union companies, this issue will not go away.’”

“Penn is refusing to part ways with Burson-Marsteller, and Clinton has not asked him to do so. In an interview, he said he was avoiding a role in overseeing the part of the company's practice that involved management-labor issues. Penn said he also had invoked the company's ‘conscience clause,’ meaning that he would not work with particular clients ‘because of personal feelings on the issue.’”

[Jack Bone]

1. thanx for the post..I've forgotten all about it..

:applause:

[nevergiveup]

2. Prediction for this evening:

Edwards will win big with the union audience, Obama will hold his own, Hillary will keep her composure, dance around anything controversial and then be declared the winner by the media.

[Dawgs]

3. Oh shit!! That is both funny and scary - because it's true.

[goddess40]

4. Kucinich won this debate and the GLBTdebate last night

and Edwards was close but there is no question that Kucinich won both this debate and the AFL-CIO debates. The only problem is that those on the left are buying into the MSM bullshit that Dennis doesn't stand a chance but that Hilary is already the winner. When you stop to think about who the MSM is it should scare you silly. The MSM is the republican party and why are they pushing Hilary so hard - because they think they can beat her plus they got NAFTA from Bill so they should fair well under her being at the helm. Plus they don't have to deal with the pro-birth whiners because they can just point their cash filled claws at the Dem's and say it's their fault.


Also if the Dem's are in charge they will work to pay off the debt thereby setting it up to be raided by the Republicans in the future.