WASHINGTON -- Organized labor's battle plan for the fall elections has a check mark next to Missouri in hopes of propelling at least three Democrats in spirited contests.
AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka said today he has his eyes on the Senate race of Robin Carnahan and the re-election contests of her brother, Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis, as well as Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Lexington.
"Ike Skelton's kind of a surprise. I think he's been a good representative for that district," Trumka remarked in a brief interview.
He was referring to Skelton's apparently close race with Vicky Hartzler, his Republican challenger in central-west Missouri.
An AFL-CIO spokesman confirmed later that the three Missouri Democrats are on the labor federation's target list, meaning that they are in line to receive money and organizing efforts.
The AFL-CIO has 17 million members, and the federation said this week they already have communicated with 1.75 million workers.
Trumka told reporters this morning that labor is focused on 18 Senate races and 70 House contests in 26 states. The AFL-CIO plans to spend more than $50 million on the fall elections.
Trumka, a former Pennsylvania coal miner, said that labor will be delivering a message centered on "economic patriotism."
America's top labor leader said he came away from recent visits to St. Louis, Chicago and other Midwestern cities with messages from his members: "They're concerned about jobs. They're concerned about the economy. They're concerned about pensions. They're concerned about who's on their side."
He also acknowledged that there are concerns in labor's rank-and-file about how the economy has continued to sputter under President Barack Obama.
But Trumka argued that workers have plenty to fear if Republicans recapture control of the U.S. House this fall: no new job safety legislation, no extension of unemployment, no job creation and a reduction in Social Security benefits, he contended.
"You don't fix the problem by giving the rich another holiday on taxes," he said, weighing in on the debate over extending tax cuts for high-income earners.
Around the corner in Washington, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was delivering the opposite message.
Martin Regalia, the chamber's chief economist, asserted this morning that "the most important thing Washington can do for the economy is to take action immediately to prevent the massive tax increase on America's consumers and businesses."
The business and labor adversaries are at least talking. Trumka said that he had lunch yesterday with Thomas Donohue, the chamber's president and CEO. They talked about jobs and infrastructure, Trumka said.
"It was a good first meeting and hopefully something fruitful will come out of it," he said.
