(The following article by Leigh Stope was distributed by the Associated Press on August 4.)
CHICAGO — Former President Clinton rallied the ground troops of the Democratic Party — organized labor — with a pep talk to union leaders gathered Monday to draw up a political strategy they hope will take back the White House in 2004.
Speaking privately to union political directors, Clinton told them President Bush could be beaten next year. What is needed, he said, is the right emphasis on the underperforming economy, unemployment, tax cuts that have benefited the wealthy and Iraq, which has raised questions about the credibility of the Bush administration’s case for war.
The AFL-CIO’s executive council meeting officially opens Tuesday, with union presidents set to gauge whether Democrat Dick Gephardt can muster enough support for a laborwide endorsement, which has been granted only twice before: to Al Gore and Walter Mondale.
Gephardt and the other eight Democratic hopefuls will participate in a presidential forum in the evening.
Also on the agenda is the cost of the 2004 campaign. Some union leaders want more money funneled to labor’s political operations to compete with Bush’s growing war chest, expected to reach $200 million. Leaders are debating whether to move millions of dollars into politics from the AFL-CIO’s general budget or its organizing fund, and whether to levy another surcharge on its affiliates.
Perhaps the dress rehearsal for labor in 2004 is coming in California, where Democratic Gov. Gray Davis faces an October recall election.
Davis, who received big backing from organized labor in his previous two elections, sought labor’s help again Monday in meetings with AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and other union officials. He was to address the full council, which meets in closed sessions, on Tuesday.
“Clearly they’re interested in what’s going on in California,” Davis said. “I answer their questions and obviously, if people want to help, we’re encouraged by that.”
He played down the significance of his visit, saying he attended the meetings annually to “report on the successes we’ve had in advancing interests for working men and women.”
Davis’ comments came after an hourlong private meeting with Clinton. Neither man would discuss the substance of their talks.
“We had a good talk,” Clinton said afterward. “We’re good friends.”
He would not say what political advice he had offered.
Davis said Clinton was pleased California’s budget impasse was resolved.
“I told him that my priorities from here on out are workers’ compensation reform, major privacy legislation and dealing with the long-term structural problems affecting our budget. And he gave me some advice on those issues as well,” Davis said.
Union leaders have agreed to come to the aid of Davis and are mobilizing rank-and-file members to work for him, said Karen Ackerman, the AFL-CIO’s political director. The recall vote is scheduled for Oct. 7.
The governor’s lawyers are attempting to delay the vote, or at least add Davis’ name to the recall ballot’s section for people to replace him.
Separately, the United Steelworkers of America will endorse Gephardt on Tuesday in Chicago. The union reported 371,00 members last year.
The endorsement follows Gephardt’s Teamsters prize Friday after a vote of union leaders. The Teamsters president, James P. Hoffa, a longtime Gephardt friend, is pushing for a resolution for an October board meeting, in which a Gephardt endorsement would be extended, officials in the union said.
An AFL-CIO presidential endorsement usually requires the support of two-thirds of the 13 million rank-and-file members.
Labor leaders doubt whether Gephardt can reach that threshold, especially without support from the Service Employees International Union, which claims 1.5 million members, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, claiming 1.4 million. Both remain undecided, and their leaders have expressed interest in Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.