AP: Dem Candidates Woo Union Members on Mall
By JESSE J. HOLLAND
May 17, 2007
Democrats looking to boost their 2008 presidential hopes wooed thousands of union members on the National Mall Thursday, promising to reverse what they called a long-standing anti-labor stance by President Bush.
"I'm ready to be the person who puts labor's flag right on the White House's lawn," said Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, one of several Democratic candidates who took the stage at the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers-sponsored rally.
Kucinich, along with Sens. Joe Biden of Delaware and Hillary Clinton of New York, talked up their union credentials to the blue-shirted activists who gathered a couple of blocks away from the Capitol.
"Are you ready for a president who is actively pro-labor and is going to appoint people who actually care about workers rights?" Clinton asked the crowd.
Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina spoke at IAM's legislative conference on Wednesday. The group boasts more than 700,000 active and retired members in the transportation, aerospace, manufacturing, shipbuilding and electronic industries.
Despite labor's dwindling numbers, they have been steadfast donors to Democratic causes.
The Center for Responsive Politics said the IAM gave $2,242,161 to political candidates in 2004, with $2,217,161 going to Democrats and $15,000 going to Republicans. That number dropped to$2,089,760 during the midterm elections in 2006, with the union increasing its donation to Republicans to $15,500 and giving $2,054,260 to Democrats.
Union officials were vicious to Bush. The president has been at odds with organized labor since he arrived in Washington. "From the beginning, he made working people a special target," said IAM President Tom Buffenbarger.
"Six-hundred-fourteen days until he's gone," said Rich Trumka, the AFL-CIO secretary treasurer.
Democrats told the union workers that if they capture the White House, they will reverse Bush's anti-union stances and policies.
"I'm going to be the best friend labor ever had as the president of the United States of America," said Biden,who along with Kucinich spoke about the war in Iraq.
"Until we deal with it, we're not going to have flexibility to deal with things at home or creditability to deal with things abroad," Biden said.
Kucinich challenged the other candidates to join his call to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. "He should be removed from office," he said. "I challenge all other candidates to say the same thing."
But they also talked about revitalizing the labor movement, with Kucinich saying that his first act as president would be to cancel the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement.
Clinton said organized labor has been overlooked by the current administration.
"When I am president, you will not beinvisible to the president of the United States," Clinton said.