Daily News (New York), September 3, 2007, Monday
Copyright 2007 Daily News
Daily News (New York)
BYLINE: By Michael McAuliff, New York Daily News
DATELINE: DES MOINES
BODY:
DES MOINES, Iowa _ For Hillary Clinton, Labor Day described the mission as much as the holiday as she campaigned with her husband at her side for still-uncommitted union support.
"Unions gave dignity and respect and improved working conditions to million of Americans and we need to make sure you have the right to organize and bargain collectively in the 21st century," the New York senator told a rally of Iowa's South Central Federation of Labor on Monday.
Bill Clinton set the stage for her, saying Bush administration policies helped the rich and hurt everybody else.
"We're back to where money has too much influence and labor too little in America's life," said the ex-president at a Sioux City labor picnic, while touting job growth and rising middle class fortunes during his two terms.
Hillary's push was well-received by the union crowds, but most weren't ready to commit. Many interviewed said they still liked John Edwards, who leads in Iowa and Monday grabbed the endorsements of the United Mine Workers and the United Steelworkers. Their combined membership of 1.8 million puts his third-place campaign in first place for labor support.
"These endorsements matter. Union members vote twice as much as nonunion members, and they vote Democratic twice as much," said Jefferson Cowie, associate professor of labor history at Cornell University. "You can get a two-for-one deal if you bring in these endorsements."
While Edwards "has the strongest position on labor issues," Cowie said, many unions are staying on the sidelines out of fear "that endorsing him could generate animosity with a possible Clinton White House."
Clinton said her experience would achieve goals unions want, and she took a shot at the "hope" and "change" pitch central to the campaign of her chief rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Barack Obama.
"You don't just do it by making a speech, you don't just do it by hoping it happens _ you do it by hard work," she said. "You know change is just a word if you don't have the strength and experience to make it happen."
Obama took a shot from New Hampshire, saying it's going to take someone new to bring real change.
"George Bush and Dick Cheney may have turned divisive special-interest politics into an art form, but it was there before they got to Washington," he said.
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(New York Daily News correspondent Celeste Katz contributed to this report.)
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(c) 2007, New York Daily News.
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