Labor Celebrates Primary Wins, Looks Ahead to Hard—and Expensive—Political Year

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6010/labor_celebrates_electoral_wins_looks_ahead_to_hard_political_year/

Wednesday May 19 3:00 pm

'We're in it to win it,' says AFL-CIO political director

Tuesday’s primary votes “were a real victory for working people,” says Karen Ackerman, AFL-CIO political director, despite Pennsylvania Democratic voters’ rejection of former Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, running with the endorsement of top Democrats, from Obama to Gov. Ed Rendell, and most of organized labor.


Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), before the polls closed on Tuesday. Specter lost a close primary campaign against Rep. Joe Sestak. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Labor–and the Democrats–scored their clearest victory in the southwest Pennsylvania district of deceased Democratic Rep. John Murtha, a de-industrialized slice of the state that voted for Kerry but then went for McCain over Obama. Democratic candidate Mark Critz, a former aide to Murtha who ran as a social conservative, won in the type of district Republicans thought they would sweep this year. But even if the vote preserves Democrats’ control of the House, it’s a stretch to call it a major victory for working people or progressive politics.

In labor’s most controversial move for yesterday’s primaries, Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter forced incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln into a run-off, and now Ackerman says, “We’re in it to win it.”

Just for the first round, not counting the final few days, the AFL-CIO reports making 60,000 phone calls, handing out more than 200,000 leaflets at more than 75 worksites, and mailing three pieces to more than 60,000 households and another 20,000-piece mailing from Alliance fo Retired Americans.

The AFL-CIO’s community arm, Working America, also knocked on 82,000 doors, made over 200,000 calls, and sent 1.75 million mailers. Various unions, including the Service Employees, made independent expenditures on advertising, for a total union expenditure, Ackerman says, of “several million dollars.”

The support from unions, MoveOn and other progressive groups for Halter prompted Lincoln to call on primary election night for “outside” groups to get out of the state. “There’s nothing 'outside' about people who have members of unions in Arkansas,” Ackerman said in a teleconference. “This was initiated by union activists in Arkansas for Arkansas.”


FULL story at link.

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