COMMENTS: Four More Years
O'Cleireacain, Carol
The author, who recently became a member of the Dissent editorial board, serves as associate director in the Department of Research and Negotiations of District Council 37, AFSCME, in...
...In New York City, it was simply the labor movement...
...10 Labor has always been fairly realistic about its ability to produce in a political operation...
...But the ability of the union to affect members' political choices and activity is a day-by-day job, not just an election-year task...
...We can make up for the other side's more abundant money by using volunteer labor, phone banks, bodies on the streets, printing, and so on...
...All this is so bitterly serious—especially if one believes that, ultimately, labor may be all there is out there to carry on the cause...
...First, as a trade unionist, I foresee Democratic presidential candidates with an eye on the large non- and antiunion population, candidates wary of overt labor support...
...With money in their pockets, goods around to spend it on, and prices not rising out of control, voters saw no reason to turn out a pleasant man with a nice smile...
...When a candidate has a huge momentum, all one can do is try to limit the damage...
...Has there been a restructuring of American politics...
...In this campaign labor was reacting to having had to support a loser—Jimmy Carter— with whom it was dissatisfied last time...
...Activists need to be developed...
...If the AFL–CIO had not made an early endorsement, its largest and most politically active unions would have done it—so the real impact on the primary campaign would have been similar...
...Americans are still splitting their ballots in large numbers, electing largely Democratic state and local governments and a Democratic Congress, while going Republican for the presidency...
...Those who voted for him did so without the lack of enthusiasm many felt when voting for Carter in 1980...
...Like the economics of 1980, the economics of 1986 may bring an election devastating to the incumbents...
...the only bodies on the streets...
...At several points in his first term, Ronald Reagan was beatable but not, I think, by November 1984...
...Where were the campaign workers, the bumper stickers, the information leaflets, the posters, and the campaign offices...
...The economy, evidently, was the major issue influencing voters to reelect Ronald Reagan...
...This will mean a concentration on developing professional as well as rank-and-file political operations...
...There are two basic responses labor will have to muster to our failure in the campaign...
...This year, with no significant third-party candidate, Reagan marginally increased his union share and Mondale picked up most of Anderson's labor vote...
...In the identifiable demographic groups going for Mondale—blacks, Jews, and Hispanics gave considerably greater proportionate support than did union members who, at about 26 percent, make up a larger share of the electorate...
...They will want our apparatus, the unions' bodies, and the financial help...
...Labor had the only organization...
...Some may think so...
...However, with the press anxious to label labor a "special interest," and with public campaign financing, such privacy is not possible...
...The labor movement's endorsement and hard work clearly made Mondale the nominee...
...When the labor movement chose to endorse Mondale, Reagan's prospects—and the economy—looked worse...
...Union members supported Mondale over Reagan by 53 percent to 47 percent, not a significantly different performance than in 1980...
...the only subway information leafletting...
...I don't think labor did wrong in pushing for the Mondale nomination...
...If the deficits are presently keeping the 11 unemployment rate artifically low and the exchange rate of the dollar artificially high, thus keeping down inflation as well, then we may be in for both increased unemployment and inflation when our deficit problems are finally tackled...
...Some will not want endorsements...
...Where were the resources of the Democratic party...
...Rank-and-file members are the most successful force for making other members understand the importance of political action...
...The second response must be to find out why the erosion is happening in our ranks, and to devise a strategy to get members back to the political fold...
...Sounds familiar...
...12...
...The open issue is whether the labor movement, with an increasing stake in the results of the campaigns, will be content with a role as the "bodies," while others pose as the "brains...
...The candidates need us, and our support will be known...
...But former Glenn and Hart workers have told the they don't think either of them could have beaten Reagan...
...Even with the campaign's problems (and they were nothing compared to the problems of the Hart campaign in the primaries), Mondale was a heroic candidate by the end...
...Union literature is not enough...
...I hope we will continue to be a strong, united force in future primaries...
...We can make a difference in a reasonably balanced race...
...Ronald Reagan beat Walter Mondale by 59 percent to 41 percent in the popular vote, carrying a majority of every age group, of both sexes, and of every income class above $10,000 per year...
...Definitely not...
...No, the early and vigorous support of Mondale, a decent man and a committed friend of labor, was not an error...
...Labor has as much right as any other group to participate fully in the Democratic party's selection process...
...Could this have been prevented...
...He waged a strong fight and got the issues out...
...How quickly we forget...
...The 1984 election seems most clearly a personal victory for an incumbent president presiding over an economic recovery...
...In 1976, Jimmy Carter drew 61 percent of the union vote against Gerald Ford...
...Mondale carried New York City, but not by enough to carry the state...
...Reagan's large popular vote did not transfer to other candidates, neither improving the long-term viability of the Republican party nor ensuring him an easier Congress with which to work...
...the only phone banks...
...The target this time was to get the labor vote for Mondale above 60 percent...
...they will prefer a backroom deal...
...However, no one believes that we can fight a tidal wave, be it for Ronald Reagan or Jesse Jackson...
...Finally, as an economist, the future seems to me to depend on how long it takes the economic bubble to burst...
...WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN FOR THE future...
...There were problems, certainly, with the campaign...
...Was that a mistake...
...That will be hard work...
...The author, who recently became a member of the Dissent editorial board, serves as associate director in the Department of Research and Negotiations of District Council 37, AFSCME, in New York...
...What happened...
...But Mondale faced an incumbent who held the ultimate card...
...The first is to concentrate even harder on improving our political skills and the political apparatus...
...He lost 14 percentage points of that support in the 1980 election, with that loss dividing almost evenly between Reagan and Anderson...
...But labor could not deliver enough of its members against Ronald Reagan...
...the only, postering until the night before the election...
...I agree...
Vol. 32 • January 1985 • No. 1
