FED TO RE-LAUNCH "McCAIN REVEALED" CAMPAIGN; UNIONISTS IN MICHIGAN, ST. PAUL GET HEAD START

Friday, May 9, 2008

(PAI)FED TO RE-LAUNCH ‘McCAIN REVEALED’ CAMPAIGN; UNIONISTS IN MICHIGAN, ST. PAUL GET HEAD START

    WASHINGTON (PAI)--The AFL-CIO will re-launch its
“McCain Revealed” campaign in dozens of cities on
March 10 and March 17, focusing on Arizona Sen. John
McCain’s health care and economic plans. But
unionists in Michigan and Minnesota already have a
head start.

    That’s because McCain’s campaign swing through
Michigan the week of May 5-9 was dogged by the state
AFL-CIO, and labor activists in St. Paul, Minn., held
a mass rally focusing on McCain’s stands outside the
city’s main post office on April 15.

    McCain spent much of April and May, since he clinched
the Republican presidential nomination, re-introducing
himself to voters, notably in swing states such as
Michigan, and raising money. He also outlined a
health care plan to strip businesses of the right to
write off health insurance expenses, force individuals
into the health care market to battle the health
insurance companies, and arm individuals with tax
credits of up to $5,000 per family to pay for their
care.

    He’s also started laying out his economic plans,
including extending anti-worker GOP President George
W. Bush’s tax cuts for the rich, enacting further tax
cuts for business and opposing mortgage relief.

    But given the Arizonan’s reputation for “straight
talk” and his occasional differences with the GOP
mainstream, the AFL-CIO wants to define
him--especially to unionists and their families and
allies--before he defines himself.

    “McCain’s economic path would lead to disaster for
working families,” AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said
in a statement. “He wants to tax health care benefits
and supports unfair trade policies that send
family-supporting jobs overseas. It’s time for McCain
to tune out the corporate and insurance industry
lobbyists who hold sway in his campaign and start
listening to the real concerns of working people.”

    The fed estimates some 6,200 union volunteers will
fan out in 125 cities on May 10 and May 17 to try to
reach 200,000 unionists with the McCain revealed
message. Health care will be a key, as the federation
calculates McCain’s plan will lead thousands of
employers who now provide health care
coverage--however skimpy or expensive--to simply drop
it.

    The first weekend will have leafleting in only two
cities, including Detroit. But the May 17 weekend,
which coincides with the federation’s planned
nationwide marches and rallies for universal health
care, will include events in St. Louis, the Twin
Cities, Indianapolis and Cleveland.

    Besides the city demonstrations, the AFL-CIO mailed
tens of thousands of flyers about McCain’s health care
proposals to voters in six swing states, including
Michigan and Minnesota. And it will canvass voters in
22 states overall on May 10 and May 17.

    Michigan already got the jump on the national effort,
state fed President Mark Gaffney said. So did
Minnesota, according to the St. Paul Union Advocate.

    Speakers at the April 15 rally in the Minnesota state
capital ripped McCain’s market-driven health care
plans, notably his proposal to eliminate the tax
exemption for employer-paid health care coverage.
McCain’s $5,000-per-amily health care tax credit would
cover less than half of the average cost of a family’s
health insurance premiums, they noted.

    “McCain’s proposed new tax on health care benefits
would take money out of the pockets of middle-class
families at a time when they are struggling just to
hold on,” Postal Workers St. Paul local President Pat
McCann told the crowd in the Twin Cities. “He’d also
cut the tax advantages employers now get for providing
health benefits. And you know what that would mean:
No more benefits on the job.”

    McCain decries what he called “gold-plated” health
care, but Working America Minnesota director David
Wehde shot back there is no such thing any more.
“Even our members who have coverage tell us they are
worried about losing it or keeping up with costs,” he
declared. “Taking their benefits would only hurt
their economic situation even worse. Shouldn’t we be
making things better for working families?” Wehde
asked.
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