Dine, Philip. "AFL-CIO backs Kerry amid signs of labor's declining influence." St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 19 Feb, 2004.
             Rarely is the American union worker more influential than during a presidential election. This is especially evident right now, while the contest between President George W. Bush and Democratic front-runner John Kerry heats up. This article discusses the endorsement by the AFL-CIO in mid-February of John Kerry, who is running on a pro-union platform of "jobs, health care and fair trade." The union giant has only twice before endorsed candidates during the primaries, both of which went on to lose the November election: Walter Mondale and Al Gore. But the AFL-CIO feels strongly enough this year to support Kerry in a "desire to unseat President George W. Bush, whom it regards as the most anti-union president in decades."
             The textbook states that the AFL-CIO's power is actually limited, but its membership still represents solidarity of influential union voters. Unions generally vote Democratic, since the Democratic candidates are typically more "pro-labor" than Republicans. Even the White House admitted as much, by saying that labor has "historically supported Democrats." And the endorsement of Kerry last month comes because of the AFL-CIO's contention that "Kerry is the most electable Democrat - and that labor can help in primaries in industrial states such as New York and Ohio." At the time this article was written, John Edwards was still in the hunt for a Democratic nomination, and this article discusses Edwards' labor plan compared to Kerry's. Political experts wondered why the AFL-CIO chose to put its support behind Kerry this early, when Edwards was the one who strongly criticized NAFTA during the primaries.
             Internal discord in unions is also a problem, according to the textbook, and this may result in the defection of the rank-and-file membe
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