Is Gephardt Our Man?

With Gephardt picking up the Teamsters’ endorsement today, he’s one step closer to winning the AFL-CIO endorsement.

Harold Meyerson's Washington Post column, filed from the Chicago AFL-CIO presidential candidate forum -- reports that Gephardt might have enough momentum to win the endorsement when AFL-CIO leaders reconvene in October to take another look at the presidential race.

He also runs through some of the reasons supporting Gephardt might not be the best course:

There are, in fact, multiple reasons why the AFL-CIO might want to forgo a pre-primary endorsement. For one thing, the two candidates on whom it bestowed its endorsements -- Walter Mondale in 1984 and Al Gore in 2000 -- were already heavy favorites to win the nomination when the federation endorsed them. Gephardt clearly is not, and even though union political action programs today are in much better shape than they were in Mondale's time, there's a good possibility the AFL-CIO will not be able to get its man nominated this time.

Second, the most important priority for American labor, all the union leaders agree, is defeating George W. Bush. To that end, the council authorized $45 million for the most extensive voter mobilization program labor has ever run, with hundreds of political staffers starting to organize in battleground states in the next couple of months. If the federation enrolls in the Gephardt column, however, those staffers will surely be shifted to primary states where the Democrats don't have a prayer in the general election. (The last time South Carolina was a battleground state for liberals was 1865, when Sherman burned it down.)

Gephardt was his usual solid self at the Chicago forum. Kerry was hindered by a hoarse voice. Lieberman—even if you like his politics—is such a downer he’s almost an anti-inspiring leader.

While a lot of progressives—especially here in Seattle—have convinced themselves that Howard Dean is Ralph Nader, George McGovern and Abraham Lincoln rolled into one, I’m concerned that his actual credentials aren’t completely convincing.

But I got a glimpse of how compelling Dean can be when he answered a question about pensions at the Chicago forum with a discussion about how strengthening workers’ right to form unions will lead to a stronger retirement system because that’s the only real way working people will have the clout to produce badly-needed reforms. (Meyerson was also impressed.)