Unions Mobilize Against McCain-Palin

Organized labor is on the move for Obama.

The same day that the food and commercial workers union launched an anti-McCain ad, one day after a nurses union's attack, and two days after the AFL-CIO said it would blanket members with political mail, the National Education Association announced a "blitz" of 500,000 mailers lambasting McCain's health care plan in battleground states. Seperately, the union-backed Alliance for Retired Americans is running a TV ad critical of McCain's stance on Social Security.

The NEA's mailer, to be followed by phone calls and personal visits to undecided members, says that McCain will tax Americans on their health care benefits. An accompanying Web site lets you calculate the tax. (The mailer doesn't mention that McCain's plan includes a $5,000 tax credit for families to buy health insurance.)

Click on the image to view the mailer:

Even before this, the NEA blasted out 4.2 million mailers and made 2.1 million calls in its 2008 voter drive.

The Alliance for Retired Americans, meanwhile, will run a TV ad in Ohio and Colorado on local cable channels popular with older viewers. The ad includes a clip of McCain calling the Social Security system a "disgrace." It will be similar to this Alliance ad, which ran in Pennsylvania earlier this year:

The alliance was created by the AFL-CIO in 2001 as an advocacy organization for retired union members. Find out more after the jump...

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8:42 PM ET | 10- 2-2008 | permalink

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Teachers Union Drops Ad On Colorado Senate Race

The National Education Association, the largest teachers union, is one of several independent groups jumping into the Colorado Senate race, which is considered a toss-up by the Cook Political Report. This NEA ad has been running since Aug. 5, criticizing Republican candidate Bob Schaffer for being in the pocket of "special interests," such as the oil industry and supporters of school vouchers.

-- Will Evans

3:55 PM ET | 08-14-2008 | permalink

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