Facing an angry and skeptical electorate, the AFL-CIO plans on scaling back its political advertising budget for the mid-term election, convinced that its members can more effectively reach voters than the usual raft of TV spots in support of Democratic candidates.
“We think this election requires more face-to-face contact,” Richard Trumka, the union’s president told POLITICO Wednesday, acknowledging a tough environment in which Republicans are seeking to take advantage of voter frustrations about the economy.
The best response to the overheated rhetoric is to remind voters, in individual conversations, about all that President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress achieved, including creating 3.5 million jobs and passing Wall Street and health care reforms, he said.
The renewed focus on ground-level organizing efforts makes sense to at least one Democratic state chairman. “There’s nobody that does grassroots politics like the AFL-CIO so anytime they’re focusing on talking to their members one-on-one, face-to-face, it’s a good thing for Democrats,” said John Walsh, chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party.
During a press event Wednesday outlining the union’s political strategy heading into November, Trumka said the question for voters is “whether they want to continue the progress that we’ve made or they want to go back to the period where Wall Street and corporate America ran wild and controlled the agenda where they continued to ship jobs offshore.”
The AFL-CIO has 17 million members and has already communicated with 1.75 million working people, Trumka said.
At least 30 percent of voters in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan come from union households so reaching those voters is crucial, said Democratic strategist Steve Rosenthal, the union’s former political director.
“Making sure they’re maximizing turnout of their members and that they’re doing the important persuasion to make sure that 65 to 70 percent support the union candidate, that’s going to be vital. None of those candidates win without those votes,” Rosenthal said. “We can mitigate some of the national mood and some of the factors that are playing against the Democrats by changing the equation and turning to those voters.”
The AFL-CIO will target 26 states, including the “firewall states” of California, Illinois, Nevada, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The union will focus on 18 Senate races, over 70 House seats as well as a slew of gubernatorial and state legislative races, Trumka said.
This article is available only to our premium digital content subscribers.
AFL's fall strategy: Less TV
Facing an angry and skeptical electorate, the AFL-CIO plans on scaling back its political advertising budget for the mid-term election, convinced that its members can more effectively reach voters than the usual raft of TV spots in support of Democratic candidates.
“We think this election requires more face-to-face contact,” Richard Trumka, the union’s president told POLITICO Wednesday, acknowledging a tough environment in which Republicans are seeking to take advantage of voter frustrations about the economy.
The best response to the overheated rhetoric is to remind voters, in individual conversations, about all that President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress achieved, including creating 3.5 million jobs and passing Wall Street and health care reforms, he said.
The renewed focus on ground-level organizing efforts makes sense to at least one Democratic state chairman. “There’s nobody that does grassroots politics like the AFL-CIO so anytime they’re focusing on talking to their members one-on-one, face-to-face, it’s a good thing for Democrats,” said John Walsh, chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party.
During a press event Wednesday outlining the union’s political strategy heading into November, Trumka said the question for voters is “whether they want to continue the progress that we’ve made or they want to go back to the period where Wall Street and corporate America ran wild and controlled the agenda where they continued to ship jobs offshore.”
The AFL-CIO has 17 million members and has already communicated with 1.75 million working people, Trumka said.
At least 30 percent of voters in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan come from union households so reaching those voters is crucial, said Democratic strategist Steve Rosenthal, the union’s former political director.
“Making sure they’re maximizing turnout of their members and that they’re doing the important persuasion to make sure that 65 to 70 percent support the union candidate, that’s going to be vital. None of those candidates win without those votes,” Rosenthal said. “We can mitigate some of the national mood and some of the factors that are playing against the Democrats by changing the equation and turning to those voters.”
The AFL-CIO will target 26 states, including the “firewall states” of California, Illinois, Nevada, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The union will focus on 18 Senate races, over 70 House seats as well as a slew of gubernatorial and state legislative races, Trumka said.
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Facing an angry and skeptical electorate, the AFL-CIO plans on scaling back its political advertising budget for the mid-term election, convinced that its members can more effectively reach voters than the usual raft of TV spots in support of Democratic candidates.
“We think this election requires more face-to-face contact,” Richard Trumka, the union’s president told POLITICO Wednesday, acknowledging a tough environment in which Republicans are seeking to take advantage of voter frustrations about the economy.
The best response to the overheated rhetoric is to remind voters, in individual conversations, about all that President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress achieved, including creating 3.5 million jobs and passing Wall Street and health care reforms, he said.
The renewed focus on ground-level organizing efforts makes sense to at least one Democratic state chairman. “There’s nobody that does grassroots politics like the AFL-CIO so anytime they’re focusing on talking to their members one-on-one, face-to-face, it’s a good thing for Democrats,” said John Walsh, chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party.
During a press event Wednesday outlining the union’s political strategy heading into November, Trumka said the question for voters is “whether they want to continue the progress that we’ve made or they want to go back to the period where Wall Street and corporate America ran wild and controlled the agenda where they continued to ship jobs offshore.”
The AFL-CIO has 17 million members and has already communicated with 1.75 million working people, Trumka said.
At least 30 percent of voters in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan come from union households so reaching those voters is crucial, said Democratic strategist Steve Rosenthal, the union’s former political director.
“Making sure they’re maximizing turnout of their members and that they’re doing the important persuasion to make sure that 65 to 70 percent support the union candidate, that’s going to be vital. None of those candidates win without those votes,” Rosenthal said. “We can mitigate some of the national mood and some of the factors that are playing against the Democrats by changing the equation and turning to those voters.”
The AFL-CIO will target 26 states, including the “firewall states” of California, Illinois, Nevada, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The union will focus on 18 Senate races, over 70 House seats as well as a slew of gubernatorial and state legislative races, Trumka said.
He refused to say how much money his group will pour into efforts to elect Democrats, but based on estimates by other union officials, labor will spend more than $125 million in this election cycle to try to counter spending by business interests and preserve the Democratic majority in Congress.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees anticipates spending $82 million this election cycle, $50 million this year alone, said Larry Scanlon, the union’s political director, and the name of the game is “incumbency protection.” AFSCME is targeting 17 Senate races, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Florida and California, and between 70 and 80 House races along with roughly 20 races for governor, Scanlon said.
In addition to advertising, the union will poll and activate its grassroots network of 1.6 million members. It’ll spend about $2.5 million on direct mail and another $2 million on phone banking, Scanlon said.
The Service Employees International Union plans to spend $44 million this year. The union will target up to 30 House, 10 Senate and 20 gubernatorial races. And it will communicate with its 2.2 million members all over the country.
SEIU is pushing Democrats to end tax breaks for the wealthy and extend them for the middle class.
“Middle-class families need a break. That’s why we support President Obama’s plan to cut taxes for families making less than $250,000 per year,” said SEIU spokesperson Teddy Davis. “The Bush tax cuts for the rich and tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas should be ended. That money needs to be invested in job creation.”
The Teamsters are also getting in on the action. The union is targeting California, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. The union is focused on 17 Senate, 18 gubernatorial and 101 House races.
Teamsters’ spokeswoman Leigh Strope wouldn’t disclose how much the union will spend this election cycle, but said it would be about the same as the 2006 mid-term elections.
The Teamsters won’t do much advertising, focusing instead on talking to its 1.4 million members through direct mail, canvassing and work site visits, Strope said. The union is focused on jobs, pensions and passing a provision making it easier to unionize UPS shipping rival FedEx.
This article is available only to our premium digital content subscribers.
AFL's fall strategy: Less TV
Facing an angry and skeptical electorate, the AFL-CIO plans on scaling back its political advertising budget for the mid-term election, convinced that its members can more effectively reach voters than the usual raft of TV spots in support of Democratic candidates.
“We think this election requires more face-to-face contact,” Richard Trumka, the union’s president told POLITICO Wednesday, acknowledging a tough environment in which Republicans are seeking to take advantage of voter frustrations about the economy.
The best response to the overheated rhetoric is to remind voters, in individual conversations, about all that President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress achieved, including creating 3.5 million jobs and passing Wall Street and health care reforms, he said.
The renewed focus on ground-level organizing efforts makes sense to at least one Democratic state chairman. “There’s nobody that does grassroots politics like the AFL-CIO so anytime they’re focusing on talking to their members one-on-one, face-to-face, it’s a good thing for Democrats,” said John Walsh, chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party.
During a press event Wednesday outlining the union’s political strategy heading into November, Trumka said the question for voters is “whether they want to continue the progress that we’ve made or they want to go back to the period where Wall Street and corporate America ran wild and controlled the agenda where they continued to ship jobs offshore.”
The AFL-CIO has 17 million members and has already communicated with 1.75 million working people, Trumka said.
At least 30 percent of voters in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan come from union households so reaching those voters is crucial, said Democratic strategist Steve Rosenthal, the union’s former political director.
“Making sure they’re maximizing turnout of their members and that they’re doing the important persuasion to make sure that 65 to 70 percent support the union candidate, that’s going to be vital. None of those candidates win without those votes,” Rosenthal said. “We can mitigate some of the national mood and some of the factors that are playing against the Democrats by changing the equation and turning to those voters.”
The AFL-CIO will target 26 states, including the “firewall states” of California, Illinois, Nevada, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The union will focus on 18 Senate races, over 70 House seats as well as a slew of gubernatorial and state legislative races, Trumka said.
