Read it here first: the text of the new Dean ad (replacing an old one) in South Carolina, Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Washington: "I'm Howard Dean and I approve this message because its time to stand up to George Bush. I opposed the war with Iraq when too many Democrats supported it, because I want a foreign policy consistent with American values. I opposed the Bush tax cuts because they are bad for the economy and they are costing us jobs. As Governor, I created jobs, balanced budgets, and made sure nearly every child in my state had health insurance. As President, I will make sure every American does too. Join the campaign; together we can take our country back. "
ABC News Dean campaign reporter Marc Ambinder says that on September 23, one of the most powerful local labor leaders in the country will host a fundraiser for Gov. Dean in New York City. A rep for SEIU 1199's Dennis Rivera says it's not a personal endorsement — and certainly not an indication of an impending SEIU endorsement. But to our knowledge, Rivera hasn't hosted a fundraiser for a presidential candidate this cycle. And a number of Dean campaign events in New York City have been held at 1199's headquarters. So you make the call.As the bigger national labor unions begin their season of political conferences, look for the Dean campaign to ratchet up their efforts to prevent Congressman Gephardt from getting an AFL-CIO supermajority and to prevent Senator Kerry from getting a major public employee/service union endorsement. The campaign figures that if a few big unions decide not to endorse — or if they decide to endorse later in the year, rather than now — the better the chance that their candidate will cement his status as an acceptable alternative to a labor candidate like Gephardt.
Campaign aides tout recent polling in Iowa (reflecting their own internal polls) that show Dean leading among labor households — even among the relatively more conservative working class labor households. Their hope is to build enough grassroots support among labor voters in early states as to send a signal to the more pragmatically inclined national union leaders that they endorse an unelectable or relatively unpopular Democrat (even one with 100 percent fidelity to labor issues) at their peril.
A few weeks ago, Dean met privately with key decision-makers at the United Auto Workers headquarters in Michigan, a direct consequence, according to labor and campaign sources, of the candidate's growing support among UAW rank and file. That's not to say that the UAW is thinking about choosing Dean, or that they won't endorse Gephardt — only that something interesting and important could be happening.
Last week, Dean won the endorsement of two top Iowa activists — Tom Gillespie, the president of the Iowa State Building and Construction Trades council based in Des Moines, Iowa (which presidential candidate with a "K" in his name called Gillespie on the Dean plane?), and Sandy Opstvedt, President of the IBEW Iowa State Conference. Look for more of these single-person labor endorsements, especially in Iowa. It's a top priority of the staff there, along with tripling their volunteer base.
We don't have to tell you how Dean For America much energy and time is being spent courting some of the nation's undecided union leaders … Late last week, Dean interrupted his days off for two labor solidarity events; he met with Verizon workers in Burlington and joined striking Yale workers in New Haven. Those Yale workers, by the way, are members of a very important SEIU local.
Speaking of the SEIU, watch very carefully to see what the Service Employees International Union president Andrew Stern says in his Friday press conference previewing the SEIU's political conference. Stern's rank and file really seems to like Dean; Stern himself openly praises the guy, and top SEIU political staffers appeared to "get" Dean well before the rest of the world caught on.
Next Monday, Dean and other presidential hopefuls will hop from the SEIU gathering to private meetings with AFSCME leaders in Washington.
A Wall Street Journal editorial thinly praises Dean for "buck
his party's orthodoxy" on public financing.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/TheNote.html
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