Even with union help Dems are finding it a tough sell
Image by NatalieMaynor via FlickrJust up the hill from a huge, shuttered Westinghouse factory, three campaign foot soldiers from the United Steelworkers rang Ed Turosky’s doorbell to urge him to vote for the Democratic candidates for the House and Senate here.When you consider the biggest outside spender is a public employee union these guys are still in denial about the dynamics of this race. Democrats are not losing because they got out spent. They are losing because they passed laws that either did not work or they ignored the people who said they did not want them. Continuing to throw insults at voters is not going to win them any love either.
It was a beautiful autumn morning, but Mr. Turosky, a retired steelworker himself, greeted them with surprising gruffness. He said he wasn’t buying what they were selling; in fact, he wasn’t going to vote at all, even though he is a lifelong Democrat.
“I’m mad at all of them; they’re all crooks,” he said, angry that the government is not increasing his monthly Social Security payments for the second year in a row. “I have no use for any of them.”
This fall, the Democrats are looking far more than usual to organized labor’s ground troops and money to save embattled Democratic candidates, but labor’s vaunted political clout may fail to deliver — partly because so many union members and retirees, like Mr. Turosky, are angry about the economy, and partly because unions are finding it hard to surmount a deluge of Republican campaign ads.
In recent days, several unions have not just poured a record number of canvassers into the streets going door to door, they have promised record amounts of campaign spending in a last-ditch effort to counter corporate spending and limit Republican gains in House, Senate and gubernatorial races.
“It’s been more difficult this year,” said Rick Bloomingdale, president of the Pennsylvania A.F.L.-C.I.O. “We don’t have the resources to keep up. We’re being deluged by the Chamber of Commerce and all these AstroTurf groups that pretend to be friends of the worker,” a reference to fake grass-roots organizations.
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As for Social Security, people should not complain about not getting a raise when there has been no inflation. If there was a raise it would have to be paid with borrowed money that would just dig the hole we are in deeper.
Money in politics goes to races people think they can win. In 2008, the Republicans were vastly outspent by Democrats. This year there is more balance and that feels lopsided to some Democrats.
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