Union outreach aims to hold Democratic line for Obama

Electricity was down again this morning (it rained last night; that’s how it goes out here in the woods) so I got a late start on all things electronic.

All I’ve got right now is an item on an AFL-CIO political outreach campaign in the swing states of Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan to reassure the oft-mentioned “white blue collar workers” who normally vote Democrat that they can feel safe with the relatively unorthodox candidacy of Barack Obama. Ben Smith ran it this morning and TPM Election Central also commented while posting the lit piece that will be used by the massive union.

Smith talks about the Steelworkers considering similar activities. I would like to see Minnesota, especially northern Minnesota’s Iron Range, included on their list of outreach destinations (AFL-CIO, too, for that matter). People take our 70 percent Democratic voting habits for granted up here, but politics up here is generally driven by word of mouth, not blogs. That’s the medium where Obama has had trouble with smear campaigns and soft support from older, less educated workers. It’s important to remember that “less educated” voters aren’t stupid. If you talk to them reasonably and explain things clearly, they’ll vote the way that benefits their family. That’s why union outreach like this and an even more pronounced focus on economic issues would allow Obama to keep these core Democratic constituencies while reaching out to the new ones we hear so much about.

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