| On Second Thought |
16 February 2004
|
AFSCME Pulls Support from Dean
Governor Howard Dean has run an appalling campaign since December, and it comes as little surprise that one of the largest unions in the US, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, “has ended its activities on behalf of the Dean campaign and is shifting its resources to the general election.” While Governor Dean is badly hurt by this act, organized labor in the US is proving itself almost useless in presidential politics.
Part of the problem stems from the unions' leadership wanting to beat George Bush so badly that they have jumped into the race too early, buoyed by a bubble of enthusiasm for a well-funded campaign. Governor Dean was the front-runner in their minds, the primaries and caucuses would be formalities because the unions would provide the ground troops to turn out the vote, and the Internet would fund it all. In acting as they did, they betrayed the friendship and support they had from a tried and true fan of labor, Congressman Richard Gephardt. Their failure to support him killed his campaign in Iowa.
Yet, in the fourteen races thus far, labor has delivered precisely zero victories for Governor Dean. AFSCME has 1.5 million members nationwide, and it spends a great deal on politics. This is the union that made Bill Clinton a factor after he lost Iowa and New Hampshire. Its endorsement may have delivered phone banks, mailings, meeting halls, and heaven knows what else, but it didn't deliver a single plurality anywhere. And unions are supposed to be the big fish in the small pond of the nominating process. They have proven themselves otherwise.
That is not to say that a well-placed union endorsement won't make or break a candidates chance at a congressional or state nomination. At the presidential level, though, having a union, even one as big as AFSCME, backing a candidate isn't worth what it once was.
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