AFL-CIO takes on Trump in Pa, other swing states

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Philly.com

By Thomas Fitzgerald,

The AFL-CIO is gearing up to take on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Pennsylvania and several other fall battleground states.

In Pennsylvania, the union umbrella organization plans to distribute four different anti-Trump fliers to its 900,000 members at worksites and local unions around the state. They highlight various aspects of Trump’s record that AFL-CIO says harm workers, such as his companies’ outsourcing, his support for restrictions on public unions, and expressed opposition to laws ensuring equal pay for women.

The union also is mounting these voter-education measures in Ohio, Nevada and Florida, officials said, and will deploy targeted digital ads attacking the real-estate investor and former reality TV star.

“This is our first effort of the ground game against Trump,” said Rachel Rekowski, AFL-CIO communications coordinator for the Northeast region. Support from working-class voters has, in large measure, fueled Trump’s rise, and organized labor does not want that appeal to go unchallenged.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/big_tent/AFL-CIO-takes-on-Trump-in-Pa-other-swing-states.html

[BumRushDaShow]

1. PA hasn't voted for a GOP President since 1988.

I thought they had finally decided to stop calling us (PA) "swing" or "battleground" with the 2012 election but old habits die hard... I think they get fooled because of the GOP domination of the (gerry-mandered) state level offices (the elections of which are generally "off year" when Democrats tend to sit home - although after 4 years of Corbett, a good number finally woke up and booted him out).

[Angel Martin]

2. Obama won Penn by 300K votes

that's not much

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_Pennsylvania,_2012

[BumRushDaShow]

4. That came mostly out of Philadelphia

and has been the case for all of the Presidential elections since 1988 in terms of margin. I.e., the urban areas (including the city of Philadelphia along with Pittsburgh and Scranton) have enough Democrats to throw the state that way in Presidential elections. In 2008, there were 1 million more registered Democrats in PA than Republicans. As of 2014, that margin continued. The issue is turnout during off-year (non-Presidential) elections.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Excellent. Good for them. n/t