Full Steam Ahead

The Straight Talk Express chugs through New England

By Cara Bayles

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Last week, as Republican presidential candidate John McCain toured the Northeast in a campaign circuit, he admitted his visit to Massachusetts was a fruitless gesture—aside from the $2 million he raised at a fundraiser at the Westin last Wednesday night. "I'll give you some straight talk," McCain told the 450 attendees. "It's a tough state for us to win in. But I want to go everywhere."

After a press conference in Boston on Thursday, where the MBTA Police and the Massachusetts Association of Italian-American Police Officers announced their support for McCain, the senator traveled on to New Hampshire, where he hosted one of his trademark "town hall meetings."

McCain was followed there. Tim Sullivan, legislative and communications director for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) of Massachusetts, says six of the 20 protestors at the Boston event went up to New Hampshire to join another 50 or so union picketers at the Nashua town hall.

The AFL-CIO launched a national "McCain Revealed" campaign in early May. AFL-CIO president John Sweeney says McCain's economic roadmap "could lead to disaster for America's working families," adding a threat that the union would essentially shadow McCain: "If Sen. McCain thinks he can hoodwink working families into believing he's supportive of an economy that works for them, he's sorely mistaken."

Sullivan says many New Hampshire residents commute across state lines to work in Massachusetts, and are thus members of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.

"We have 10,000 union members who are in Massachusetts, and a number of them are New Hampshire residents. They're our brothers and sisters," Sullivan says. "They're teachers, air traffic controllers, state and county employees. A ton of people who live in New Hampshire work in the Merrimack Valley."

He adds that New Hampshire, though traditionally a red state, has been hotly contested in the last few election cycles. "It's now considered a swing state," he says. "In 2004, it was the only state to go from red to blue."

Jeff Grappone, New England communications director for John McCain's presidential campaign (based in New Hampshire), says this year is not unusual. "New Hampshire voters are used to a lot of attention from candidates in both the primary and general elections," he says.

McCain suggested as much to the Nashua audience on Thursday. "This is what democracy and the political process should be all about," he told the crowd of 700 supporters. "I had 102 town hall meetings here in New Hampshire before the last primary. That's the reason I was able to carry this state and win the nomination of my party. And I need you this November."

Grappone dismissed the union's presence in New Hampshire. "The AFL-CIO's protests have dramatically more to do with partisan politics than any supposed support for American working families."

Sullivan insists the union has not endorsed the Democratic nominee. "We weren't out there with any pro-Obama signs. Our role is to educate the public about working-class issues. McCain has a 0-percent AFL-CIO voting record, which is hard, even for a conservative Republican," says Sullivan, referring to the AFL-CIO's rating of legislators' compliance with issues the national organization has flagged as union concerns. "It's just not true that if you're a Democrat you get our support. We're concerned about certain issues—the economy, healthcare, workforce safety. There are Republicans in this country we support, like Arlen Specter in Philadelphia. The fact is, if there's a Republican that supports us, then we'll tell our members to back them."

Sullivan adds that the union's campaign is not limited to protests, but also educates union members about McCain's voting record, including his support of President Bush's policies, and "his support of tax breaks for companies that export jobs; his interest in taxing healthcare benefits as income, which is a wholesale paradigm shift meant to disempower workers; and his lack of support for the latest GI bill ... I mean, that built the middle class after World War II."

Grappone is confident Granite State voters won't be swayed. "John McCain promises to keep taxes low for middle-class families while Barack Obama has voted 94 times for higher taxes during his short time in the Senate," he says. "The people of New Hampshire know that John McCain is a different kind of Republican, one who stands for fiscal discipline and protecting America, but also has a long record of rising above partisanship to deliver real change."