Dems intensify pursuit of organized labor

Democratic presidential candidates further solidified organized labor’s political resurgence Monday as most of them attended union events in Chicago and Washington.

{mosads}Front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (N.Y.) healthcare plan dominated most of the day’s candidate talk, giving her Democratic rivals fodder as they addressed the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in Washington and the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) in Chicago.

Clinton’s new healthcare plan aside, the SEIU political action conference was a political pep rally, complete with fierce criticism of President Bush, pledges to end the Iraq war and loads of other campaign promises near and dear to the hearts of union officials.

Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Clinton fired up the crowd with attacks on Bush and indirect shots at each other. Former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), whose speech was delivered at press time, got a warm reception from the SEIU crowd.

Clinton said Bush is not a compassionate conservative, but a “radical who has conducted a dangerous experiment in extremism.”

The politically active SEIU crowd appeared eager to take to the streets in favor of their favorite candidates, but union officials recently said an endorsement is unlikely this week.

SEIU President Andy Stern said last week that Edwards was the early favorite for the endorsement, but that he had not yet won enough support to secure it, according to reports.

SEIU joined the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) in endorsing former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean in 2004. Many labor officials consider that to have been an enormous mistake that they don’t care to repeat.

SEIU announced its support of Dean in November 2003, and a union official said last week the group would most likely delay an endorsement.

All of the major Democratic candidates, with the exception of Sen. Joseph Biden (Del.), addressed the crowd after being introduced by the union member with whom they had done the “walk a day in my shoes” program that had the candidates spend a day working with SEIU members.

The candidates all worked hard to whip the members into a frenzy, touting their credentials as labor candidates and friends of the working man and woman.

“If the Democratic Party means anything, it means we value labor in this country,” Obama said.

He added: “I’m not a newcomer to this. I didn’t just suddenly discover SEIU on the campaign trail. I’ve been there, done that.”

SEIU and AFSCME split from the rest of labor under the AFL-CIO tent after the 2004 race, further splintering a declining political force.

However, the 2006 elections energized union leaders, who are hoping that Democrats will control Congress and the White House in 2009.

Edwards, Clinton and Biden spent the morning in Chicago addressing 1,000 members of LIUNA in person and thousands more by live webcast.

Richard Greer, a LIUNA spokesman, said Obama cited a scheduling conflict that prevented him from attending.

Greer said the union is also not rushing an endorsement as it waits for one of the candidates to secure the support of a majority of its membership.

Greer said those candidates who did attend Monday’s meeting helped their cause with the membership more than those who did not.