After '06 Success, Labor Eyes '08 Race, labor spent some $100 million on get-out-the-vote efforts 06

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After '06 Success, Labor Eyes '08 Race

fter '06 Success, Labor Eyes '08 Race
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Mar 25, 1:21 PM (ET)

By DAN SEWELL

CINCINNATI (AP) - After a taste of victory in the last national elections, union leaders are hungry for the chance to elect a pro-labor president.

"We're charged up, and anxious to lay the groundwork for the 2008 elections," said Karen Ackerman, political director of the AFL-CIO.

Leaders of the federation of unions huddled this month in Las Vegas to work on presidential race plans. They call for a myriad candidate and issues forums, culminating with a presidential candidate gathering in Chicago in August.

"The level of activity by union members early in the process will lay the groundwork for the greatest involvement by working people ever in electing the president of the United States," John Sweeney, AFL-CIO president, said at the meeting.

Organized labor spent some $100 million on get-out-the-vote efforts last year, and reached tens of millions of voters by phone calls, mail and door-to-door canvassing on behalf of labor-backed candidates. Labor political action committees contributed $59.5 million for federal candidates, up 11 percent from the previous election cycle and higher than any other industry grouping, federal filings show.

Exit polls indicated union voters chose Democrats by more than a 2-1 ratio, and labor says its supporters made the difference in many of the races that put Democrats back in the majority in Congress.

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