AFL-CIO to target a million voters this week

DENVER — AFL-CIO officials have kicked off their push to introduce Barack Obama to union voters in 24 “priority” states, unveiling a mail piece that will go out to more than a million swing voters in four states this week.

The effort is part of a $53 million dollar mobilization, the largest in the AFL-CIO’s history. {mosads}Union officials say that many union voters remain unfamiliar with Obama, the Illinois senator who is expected to receive the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday.

“This is the biggest grassroots effort in history,” said Karen Ackerman, political director of the AFL-CIO. “[The mail piece] will hit mail boxes this week as Obama accepts the nomination.”

Union members in Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania will receive a glossy mailer that touts Obama as champion of the working class, a demographic he struggled to attract during his primary contest against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).

It emphasizes his appreciation of hard work, ingrained by his mother and grandparents, and that he passed up Wall Street jobs to help Chicago neighborhoods hurt by the closure of steel mills.

Labor strategists have identified Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania as the battlegrounds most pivotal to Obama’s victory in November.

“Without Ohio it’s very difficult for Obama and Biden to win,” said Ackerman.

Union operatives hope to paint McCain as out of touch with working-class voters. They have crafted a mail piece that asserts that he owns 10 houses, travels in a $12.6 million corporate jet and sports $520 Italian loafers.

The AFL-CIO plans to contact 13 million voters in 24 states and recruit 250,000 union volunteers on Obama's behalf.

The major union has also planned an active role in congressional races. It will mobilize voters in 11 Senate races, 61 House races and 434 state legislative races.