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The Morning Grind / DayAhead |
Labor, organized and otherwise
By John Mercurio
CNN Political Unit
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Labor's day: While Howard Dean gets a double-union nod in Washington today, Iowa United Auto Workers will finalize plans to endorse Dick Gephardt.
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CNN's Jonathan Karl on partisan warfare in Congress.
CNN's Maria Hinojosa examines the impact of 'third tier' candidates on the Democratic Presidential race.
CNN's Candy Crowley on Kerry's decision to replace his campaign manager.
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SPECIAL REPORT
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- There are two distinct, yet oddly related, themes today in the '04 Dem primary: First, the intensifying battle between Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt to claim the union label. Second, the intensifying battle between John Kerry and his campaign staff to claim some form of unity.
We're also watching with interest the simmering feud between Wesley Clark and John Edwards over the senator's use of retired Gen. Hugh Shelton as an adviser, which Clark says neutralizes Shelton's recent criticism of him. Shelton, who helped prepare Edwards for his successful "Meet the Press" interview last weekend, recently said Clark was relieved of his stint as NATO commander because of "integrity and character issues" but declined to elaborate.
"By associating with General Shelton on this campaign, you seem to have given in to the negative politics that you say you have risen above," Clark communications director Matt Bennett wrote yesterday to Edwards, who responded that Shelton is a fellow North Carolinian and "has been a friend and adviser" for many years. Shelton has not endorsed any '04 Dem but has said Clark "won't get my vote."
"Whatever your personal views on General Shelton, I'm sure you agree that he is a respected military leader who served our country with distinction," Edwards responded in a brief letter to Clark. "When I talk to the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, it's about the safety and security of our men and women in uniform, not about politics."
Labor's day
But back to organized labor (which means we're clearly not talking about Kerry's campaign), leaders of which are to confirm this afternoon that they're more divided these days than at any time since the Clinton-Harkin schism 12 years ago. (And, of course, we all know how THAT turned out. Oh, wait ... .) At approximately the same time Dean gets his big double-union nod during a rally-style hoo-hah in Farragut North, and the Iowa council of the United Auto Workers will finalize plans to endorse Gephardt.
Also today, the Alliance for Economic Justice, a coalition of 16 pro-Gephardt unions, will start airing ads in Iowa that focus on trade and not-so-indirectly target Dean. The alliance is spending about $200,000 on the initial buy. The ads will run for two weeks in major Iowa markets.
Labor's day actually begins a few hours earlier in Washington, at 10 a.m. EST, when the 30-member executive board of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is scheduled to meet at their L Street HQ to rubber-stamp President Gerald McEntee's endorsement of Dean.
Assuming all goes well with that "vote," Dean and McEntee will join Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern at 1 p.m. EST in the Chinese Room of the Mayflower Hotel to break a piece of news that, at this point, should surprise no one other than a few random workers eating lunch at the nearby food court. James Williams, president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, which has also endorsed Dean, will also be on hand.
Union officials were planning to hold a news conference shortly after the rally, which is expected to draw a couple hundred AFSCME and SEIU members.
During an interview yesterday on "Inside Politics with Judy Woodruff," Stern said he doesn't think labor's split will harm the Democratic chances of defeating President Bush. "I think it somewhat looks like the Democratic Party. That's what primaries are for, that people come at the issues from different perspectives. But after this primary, there will be complete unity in this labor movement to defeat George Bush in 2004," Stern said. "We'd all like to speak with one voice, but sometimes our members look at these issues very differently. And I think we just accept those consequences."
Stern did acknowledge that Dean stumbled last month over his Confederate flag remarks. "There could have been a better choice of words," he said. "But the truth is, if you look at what happened in the last election, just last week in the South, the strategy of trying to walk the middle of the road is not a viable strategy for Democrats. We have to go to people and say, you have to vote your economic issues, you have to vote about health care, you have to vote about your kids' jobs and education."
Judy will interview McEntee on IP today.
Kerry
Now to Kerry, whose staff underwent another tumultuous day yesterday.
Press secretary Robert Gibbs quit to protest Kerry's firing of campaign manager Jim Jordan, for whom Gibbs worked in the '02 cycle at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Also out the door: Carl Chidlow, the deputy finance director. Rumors swirled that Kerry's political director, Luis Navarro, who held the same job previously with the SEIU, would leave as well, but he appeared to have decided to stay -- for now.
Jordan's successor as campaign manager, Mary Beth Cahill, turned quickly to Stephanie Cutter, with whom she worked closely in Sen. Ted Kennedy's office and the Clinton White House, to replace Gibbs. Cutter will leave her current job in Boston as communications director for the Democratic National Convention.
We hear that Kerry, perhaps in a bid to change the topic from his campaign's disarray, is widely expected to announce today that he'll forgo public campaign spending limits. Unlike Dean, who announced his decision with great fanfare Saturday in Burlington, aides say Kerry would announce his decision quietly, via e-mail.
