Dean and Union Support

ABC Political Note - 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.