The AFL-CIO will formally endorse Obama on Tuesday, as it kicks off a campaign sending 400,00 union members door to door to encourage voters to support the president's reelection bid. Labor leaders say their efforts are to counteract the political power of Super PACs. They also will commit $400 million to the campaign.
The New York Times reports:
With numerous super PACs expected to broadcast a flood of TV spots in support of the Republican nominee, the Obama campaign is looking to organized labor to play a major role in offsetting that. Labor leaders say they expect unions to spend $400 million this year on national, state and local elections — including $100 million by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — but they say their ground troops, not money, is labor’s signal contribution.
Union officials assert that the elections this November, at the national and state levels, are vital to labor’s future because Republicans have made repeated efforts to undermine unions, whether through Wisconsin’s legislation to curb public sector collective bargaining, Indiana’s "right to work" law or Congressional efforts to weaken the National Labor Relations Board.