Trumka To Blast Palin’s ‘Poisonous’ Rhetoric On Unions
The Hill reports that AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will deliver a speech today in Anchorage, Alaska, slamming former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) for anti-union rhetoric. “And down in Tyler, Texas, she’s talking about — and I quote — ‘union thugs.’ What? Her husband’s a union man. Is she calling him a thug? Sarah Palin ought to know what union men and women are,” Trumka will say. “That’s poisonous. There’s history behind that rhetoric. That’s how bosses and politicians in decades past justified the terrorizing of workers, the murdering of organizers.”
Biden’s Day Ahead
Vice President Biden will travel this morning to Manchester, New Hampshire, to promote the stimulus program. He will deliver remarks at 11:15 a.m. ET, joined by Reps. Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter. Afterwards, he will return to Washington.
Big Unions to Pool Money For Fall Elections
The Wall Street Journal reports: “The leaders of the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union have agreed to coordinate spending millions of dollars in the midterm elections to support pro-union candidates, most of them Democrats. The two labor organizations say they have a combined $88 million or more to deploy in this year’s election cycle. It’s not clear how much of that money they will pool together. The renewed alliance between the two big labor groups comes as Democrats are battling to retain control of both houses of Congress. The AFL-CIO and SEIU plan to target elections in 26 states, all but five of which they consider battleground territory, including California, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Ohio.”
GOP Bringing In The Bucks For House Elections
The Washington Post reports: “This week, the top Republican in the House, Minority Leader John A. Boehner (Ohio), pledged that the party would spend $50 million assisting House candidates in the midterm elections. The National Republican Congressional Committee has been outraising its Democratic counterpart for the past four months and is raising far more than in the last election cycle. Last month, it brought in $8.6 million, compared with $6.2 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. But the DCCC still has more money on hand for the campaign, $35.8 million compared with the NRCC’s current total of $22.1 million.”
More House Seats Look Like They May Change Hands
CQ reports: “The latest CQ-Roll Call survey of the political landscape finds an environment that continues to worsen for Democrats and new race ratings to reflect Republicans on the ascent. Among the seats now held by Democrats that have been moved into more competitive categories, CQ-Roll Call now rates three of as likely to be won by Republicans: the 2nd district in Arkansas; the 3rd district in Louisiana; and the 29th district in New York. Those three seats are open following the retirements or early departure of Democratic incumbents, and all three seats went for Sen. John McCain for president in 2008.”
FreedomWorks Shaping Tea Party Passion Into GOTV Force
The New York Times reports on the efforts by FreedomWorks to train Tea Party activists for the November elections: “The goal is to turn local Tea Party groups into a standing get-out-the-vote operation in Congressional districts across the country. Sarah Palin made community organizing a term of derision during the 2008 presidential campaign; FreedomWorks has made Tea Party conservatives the surprise community organizing force of the 2010 midterm elections, showing on-the-ground strength in races like the Republican primary for the Senate in Alaska on Tuesday, where the upstart Joe Miller was leading Senator Lisa Murkowski in a race that may take weeks to call.”
