Did Labor Lose When Lincoln Won? Not Exactly by Jo Freeman

Did Labor Lose When Lincoln Won? Not Exactly

by JoFreeman

Senator Blanche Lincoln’s win in the June 8 Arkansas Democratic primary over labor-backed candidate Lt. Gov. Bill Halter has left many political pundits criticizing the unions for taking on a big target in a under-unionized state — and losing.

Sometimes one can win by losing — in sort of an inverse Pyrrhic victory. This looks like one of those times.

Organized Labor is the 800-pound gorilla in the Democratic Party, but current party leaders haven’t been paying much attention to Labor’s needs. The gorilla wants to be fed. Labor went after a Democrat who had voted against the union position too often, and who also looked vulnerable.

Not vulnerable enough. Blanche Lincoln outspent Bill Halter by three-to-one and won the primary by four percent.

Why isn’t this the loss the pundits proclaimed? Because Labor showed that it was willing to put its money where it’s mouth is — it was willing to fight.

Over the last few decades the right wing of the Republican party has pulled the mainstream GOP in its direction through its willingness to fight. It ran conservatives in the primaries who beat the moderates (the ones that used to call themselves progressive Republicans) even when it meant losing to a Democrat in the general election.

It sometimes seemed as though there was a “conspiracy” between the Democrats and the right-wing of the Republican Party to decimate the mainstream, moderate wing of the Republican party.

It worked. Today’s Republican Party is decidedly to the right of where it was thirty years ago. And the Democratic Party is to the right of where it would be if it hadn’t elected all those Blue Dog Democrats in districts that are not warm to the real thing.

Labor may not want to go so far as defeating Democrats — at least not enough to cost the party its majority in Congress. But it certainly wants the Democrats to stop taking it for granted. Taking on Blanche Lincoln was one way to send this message, even if it didn’t take her out.

By fighting Lincoln’s renomination, Organized Labor showed its willingness to take on the challenge of getting better Democrats. By losing, it won’t get the blame if the Dems lose that seat in November.

Now if Labor really wants to flex its muscles, it should take on the bigger challenge of re-electing Harry Reid in November. Senate Majority Leader Reid may not be the best Senator on Labor issues but he’s better than most. Nevada is a heavily unionized state, as well as one which is suffering a lot in the current recession. The anti-incumbent mood is strong, but Harry Reid is a valuable incumbent. The pay-off to Labor from significantly helping to re-elect Reid could be really big.

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Did Labor Lose When Lincoln Won? Not Exactly

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