Ought Six
Membership Revoked
Voters want more specifics from Kerry
Poll shows Democratic candidate losing ground to Bush
By Richard Morin and Claudia Deane
The Washington Post, via MSNBC News
July 27, 2004
A majority of voters say they know little about John F. Kerry's positions on key issues and want the Democratic presidential candidate to detail specific plans for handling the economy, Iraq and the war on terrorism when he addresses the Democratic National Convention and a nationally televised audience on Thursday, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
The survey suggests that the stakes for Kerry and the Democrats as they began their convention in Boston could not be higher. In barely a month, Kerry has lost ground to President Bush on every top voting issue in this year's election.
A growing proportion of voters say Bush and not Kerry is the candidate who most closely shares their values, and four in 10 believe the Democrat is "too liberal." Bush has even narrowed the gap on which candidate better understands their problems, an area in which Kerry has led.
The poll suggests that negative ads by the Bush-Cheney campaign that have been airing since early March, as well as attacks by Republican officials, have been increasingly successful in planting the image of Kerry as an unreliable leader who flip-flops on the issues -- perceptions that Democrats will work hard to reverse at their convention.
Kerry's advisers down played the results of the Post-ABC poll, asserting that the senator from Massachusetts enters the convention stronger than other recent challengers to incumbent presidents. But they agreed that the four-day gathering in Boston represents a critical opportunity for Kerry to flesh out what is still a partial portrait of his candidacy and said that his chance to communicate directly with voters will pay dividends.
Cheryl Utley, 43, of Lowell, Mich., would seem to be exactly the kind of voter Kerry is targeting this week. Utley, a restaurant worker, is an independent living in a battleground state. She is leaning toward Bush even though she has supported Democrats more often than she has Republicans. "I have more of a sense of where he stands on things than Kerry," she said.
Utley wants Kerry and the Democratic Party to talk about domestic issues, specifically education and "what they plan on doing about health care for middle-income or lower-income people."
"I have to face the fact that I will never be able to have health insurance, the way things are now. And these millionaires don't seem to address that," she said.
Electorate remains divided
The survey found that Kerry and Bush remain virtually deadlocked, with 48 percent of registered voters supporting Bush and 46 percent Kerry. Independent candidate Ralph Nader claims 3 percent of the hypothetical vote. Kerry held a four-point lead over Bush in mid-June and was tied with Bush in a Post survey two weeks ago.
Kerry has slipped even though Bush remains unpopular with many Americans. Currently half of Americans approve of the job he is doing as president and 47 percent disapprove. Fewer than half endorse the way he is managing the economy, the situation in Iraq and health care. More broadly, a majority of Americans -- 53 percent -- say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country, a 21-point increase since Saddam Hussein's government fell to U.S. forces 15 months ago.
Although the electorate remains deeply divided, the survey found one area of broad agreement: Two in three voters say this election is one of the most important of their lives.
"I think it is the most important election since World War II," said Lee Gearhart, 72, a retired insurance agent in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "It looked like it was a regular election to begin with -- until Mr. Bush got us into war."
The latest Post-ABC survey suggests that voters are impatient to hear from Kerry on key issues in this campaign, presenting Democrats with an opportunity to show their nominee in a favorable light. More than half -- 54 percent -- say they are unfamiliar with Kerry's positions; only one in four is similarly uncertain where Bush stands. Nearly half of all Democrats -- 46 percent -- and a majority of political independents say they are not sure what Kerry stands for.
"I would like him to come right out and explain that to people, what he really believes, in a way that everyone will understand him," said Rose Spalding, 45, a Kerry supporter in Cumberland, Maine. "He needs to be really clear and concise about that and show he's really different from Bush."
A specific outline
At the same time, Kerry needs to show a more human face. "He needs to come down a little bit to be more of an everyday Joe," she said.
In virtually every measure tested, Kerry's image has eroded in recent weeks. He has lost his double-digit advantage as the candidate viewed by voters as more honest and more understanding of their problems. The president also is now seen by voters as the candidate who better reflects their values, and he has increased his advantage as better able to keep the country safe and secure. The proportion of voters who rate Kerry as "too liberal" has increased slightly, from 36 percent in June to 40 percent.
On issues, Kerry has also lost ground to Bush. By increasing margins, the president is seen as better able to deal with Iraq, the war on terrorism and taxes. On two key issues in which Kerry had an advantage as late as two weeks ago -- the economy and education -- the candidates are tied.
Four issues topped the agenda when voters were asked what they most wanted Kerry to talk about in his televised speech from the convention on Thursday: the economy and jobs (20 percent), Iraq (19 percent), terrorism (15 percent), and health care (13 percent).
"You pretty much know what Bush's philosophy is on everything he's doing," said Mike Miller, 57, of Russellville, Ark., who is "on the fence" but favoring Kerry. "I'd like to know about Kerry's philosophy on the economy: how he's going to get our national debt down. . . . Is the deficit even a concern of his?"
"One of the main things I would like to get out of the Kerry and Edwards campaign, especially this week, is a more specific outline of what their real plans are, especially for the war in Iraq," said Morgan Cason, 19, who attends college in Evansville, Ind.
Adam Chen, 45, an engineer living in San Diego is undecided but favoring Kerry. "I don't think the Republicans' policy of tax cuts is going to create more jobs. So Democrats, what are you going to do to create more jobs? They have to answer more questions there."
Tim French, 52, lives in La Plata, Md. He wants to hear Kerry talk about terrorism. "I would like to see Kerry make a definitive statement on what his administration would expect to do in terms of fighting terrorism in the United States. Borders, law enforcement, intelligence: What is he going to be doing that is not being done now?"
A total of 1,202 randomly selected adults were interviewed July 22-25 for the poll, including 974 self-described registered voters. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for the overall results and fractionally larger for results based only on voters.
-----
Senior polling analyst Christopher Muste contributed to this report.
=============================================================
SEIU chief says Dems lack fresh ideas
Stern: Labor may be better off if Kerry loses
By David S. Broder
The Washington Post, via MSNBC News
July 27, 2004
BOSTON, July 26 - Breaking sharply with the enforced harmony of the Democratic National Convention, the president of the largest AFL-CIO union said Monday that both organized labor and the Democratic Party might be better off in the long run if Sen. John F. Kerry loses the election.
Andrew L. Stern, the head of the 1.6 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), said in an interview with The Washington Post that both the party and its longtime ally, the labor movement, are "in deep crisis," devoid of new ideas and working with archaic structures.
Stern argued that another four years of Bush policies might be less damaging than the stifling of needed reform within the party and the labor movement that he said would occur if Kerry becomes president. He said he still believes that Kerry overall would make a better president than Bush, and his union has poured huge resources into that effort. But he contends that Kerry's election would have the effect of slowing the "evolution" of the dialogue within the party.
Asked whether if Kerry became president it would help or hurt those internal party deliberations, Stern said "I think it hurts."
Stern's dissatisfaction with the AFL-CIO and the Democratic Party is not new, but his decision to voice his frustration on the opening day of a carefully scripted convention was an unwelcome surprise to Kerry's convention managers, who had been proclaiming their delight at the absence of any internal conflicts.
Speaking of the effort to create new political and union organizations, Stern said, "I don't know if it would survive with a Democratic president," because Kerry, like former president Bill Clinton, would use the party for his own political benefit and labor leaders would become partners of the new establishment.
'A hollow party'
"It is a hollow party," Stern said, adding that "if John Kerry becomes president, it hurts" chances of reforming the Democrats and organized labor.
Stern is perhaps the most outspoken of the leaders of four or five unions that have been talking of breaking away from the AFL-CIO to form some kind of new workers' movement. In the struggle for the Democratic nomination last winter, Stern's union, along with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), delivered an early endorsement to former Vermont governor Howard H. Dean -- a step that solidified Dean's status as the early favorite for the nomination.
Later in the day, AFL-CIO president John J. Sweeney told The Post that Stern's attitude "is not justified." Sweeney, also a product of the SEIU, the largest and fastest growing union within the AFL-CIO, said the process of change is already under way within labor, adding that he is impressed with "the unity and solidarity" of Democratic support for Kerry. "I'm optimistic about the future of the Democratic Party," he said.
Stern made it clear that his complaints long preceded Kerry's nomination. He said that when Clinton was president, he demonstrated how little he cared for the Democratic Party. Calling the former president "the greatest fundraiser of his time," Stern asked, "If you think the Democratic Party is valuable, why would you leave it bankrupt?" Other elected officials are equally indifferent to the party, he said, adding that if Kerry is elected "he would smother" any effort to give it more intellectual heft and organizational muscle.
The 1.6. million member SEIU representing health care and nursing home workers, state and local employees and janitors, is part of a coalition of liberal, feminist and environmental organizations working in an alliance called Americans Coming Together (ACT). The group has raised more than $85 million, according to fundraiser Harold Ickes, and hopes to reach $130 million by November. Most of the money is being spent in targeted areas to register and turn out the vote of people believed likely to support Kerry.
Stern said SEIU has put about $65 million in union resources into efforts to elect Kerry and other worker-friendly Democrats, the bulk of it directly aimed at labor efforts in behalf of the Massachusetts senator.
'Wal-Mart economy'
But Stern complained that motivating blue-collar families who have not voted in the past is being impeded because Kerry and the Democrats have declined to address what he calls "the Wal-Mart economy," a system in which he says employers deliberately keep wages so low and hours so short that workers are forced to turn to state Medicaid programs for their families' health care.
He also criticized what he called the vagueness of the Democratic platform on trade issues.
Sweeney said he thought both complaints were off-base. He said Kerry had offered a very specific health plan with real benefits for working families. And he said he was confident that, despite his history as a supporter of liberal trade agreements, Kerry was sincere in promising to include "core labor standards" in future negotiations.
Stern also said he was not interested in trying to succeed Sweeney as the head of the AFL-CIO but left the door open to leading a breakaway effort.
He said he was convinced from his experience in the civil rights movement that "pressure is needed" to bring about real change. "It was not enough to have Martin Luther King Jr.," Stern said. "You needed Stokely Carmichael" to raise the threat of disruption unless demands were met. Carmichael was the flamboyant civil rights activist known for coining the term "Black Power."
Stern is perhaps the most outspoken member of the New Unity Partnership, an alliance of SEIU, the Laborers' International Union of North America, the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union, UNITE and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. All but the carpenters union are AFL-CIO members. The partnership has repeatedly warned that declining union membership threatens the viability of organized labor, especially in the private sector, which has seen a steady decline in union workers.
During SEIU's convention in San Francisco June 21, Stern caused a stir throughout organized labor by declaring that: "Our employers have changed, our industries have changed, and the world has certainly changed, but the labor movement's structure and culture have sadly stayed the same."
Union activists must "either transform the AFL-CIO or build something stronger that can really change workers' lives," he said.
-----
Staff writer Thomas B. Edsall contributed to this report.
=============================================================
If Kerry is losing support during the convention, when every past Dem presidential has experienced a bump upwards in the polls during the convention; and Kerry has still failed to define his platform, much less his vision for America, turning off voters; and Kerry cannot even solidify his AFL-CIO union support; he is in deep kimchee. He will have to figure out how to get it together very quickly, or he is done.
Poll shows Democratic candidate losing ground to Bush
By Richard Morin and Claudia Deane
The Washington Post, via MSNBC News
July 27, 2004
A majority of voters say they know little about John F. Kerry's positions on key issues and want the Democratic presidential candidate to detail specific plans for handling the economy, Iraq and the war on terrorism when he addresses the Democratic National Convention and a nationally televised audience on Thursday, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
The survey suggests that the stakes for Kerry and the Democrats as they began their convention in Boston could not be higher. In barely a month, Kerry has lost ground to President Bush on every top voting issue in this year's election.
A growing proportion of voters say Bush and not Kerry is the candidate who most closely shares their values, and four in 10 believe the Democrat is "too liberal." Bush has even narrowed the gap on which candidate better understands their problems, an area in which Kerry has led.
The poll suggests that negative ads by the Bush-Cheney campaign that have been airing since early March, as well as attacks by Republican officials, have been increasingly successful in planting the image of Kerry as an unreliable leader who flip-flops on the issues -- perceptions that Democrats will work hard to reverse at their convention.
Kerry's advisers down played the results of the Post-ABC poll, asserting that the senator from Massachusetts enters the convention stronger than other recent challengers to incumbent presidents. But they agreed that the four-day gathering in Boston represents a critical opportunity for Kerry to flesh out what is still a partial portrait of his candidacy and said that his chance to communicate directly with voters will pay dividends.
Cheryl Utley, 43, of Lowell, Mich., would seem to be exactly the kind of voter Kerry is targeting this week. Utley, a restaurant worker, is an independent living in a battleground state. She is leaning toward Bush even though she has supported Democrats more often than she has Republicans. "I have more of a sense of where he stands on things than Kerry," she said.
Utley wants Kerry and the Democratic Party to talk about domestic issues, specifically education and "what they plan on doing about health care for middle-income or lower-income people."
"I have to face the fact that I will never be able to have health insurance, the way things are now. And these millionaires don't seem to address that," she said.
Electorate remains divided
The survey found that Kerry and Bush remain virtually deadlocked, with 48 percent of registered voters supporting Bush and 46 percent Kerry. Independent candidate Ralph Nader claims 3 percent of the hypothetical vote. Kerry held a four-point lead over Bush in mid-June and was tied with Bush in a Post survey two weeks ago.
Kerry has slipped even though Bush remains unpopular with many Americans. Currently half of Americans approve of the job he is doing as president and 47 percent disapprove. Fewer than half endorse the way he is managing the economy, the situation in Iraq and health care. More broadly, a majority of Americans -- 53 percent -- say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country, a 21-point increase since Saddam Hussein's government fell to U.S. forces 15 months ago.
Although the electorate remains deeply divided, the survey found one area of broad agreement: Two in three voters say this election is one of the most important of their lives.
"I think it is the most important election since World War II," said Lee Gearhart, 72, a retired insurance agent in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "It looked like it was a regular election to begin with -- until Mr. Bush got us into war."
The latest Post-ABC survey suggests that voters are impatient to hear from Kerry on key issues in this campaign, presenting Democrats with an opportunity to show their nominee in a favorable light. More than half -- 54 percent -- say they are unfamiliar with Kerry's positions; only one in four is similarly uncertain where Bush stands. Nearly half of all Democrats -- 46 percent -- and a majority of political independents say they are not sure what Kerry stands for.
"I would like him to come right out and explain that to people, what he really believes, in a way that everyone will understand him," said Rose Spalding, 45, a Kerry supporter in Cumberland, Maine. "He needs to be really clear and concise about that and show he's really different from Bush."
A specific outline
At the same time, Kerry needs to show a more human face. "He needs to come down a little bit to be more of an everyday Joe," she said.
In virtually every measure tested, Kerry's image has eroded in recent weeks. He has lost his double-digit advantage as the candidate viewed by voters as more honest and more understanding of their problems. The president also is now seen by voters as the candidate who better reflects their values, and he has increased his advantage as better able to keep the country safe and secure. The proportion of voters who rate Kerry as "too liberal" has increased slightly, from 36 percent in June to 40 percent.
On issues, Kerry has also lost ground to Bush. By increasing margins, the president is seen as better able to deal with Iraq, the war on terrorism and taxes. On two key issues in which Kerry had an advantage as late as two weeks ago -- the economy and education -- the candidates are tied.
Four issues topped the agenda when voters were asked what they most wanted Kerry to talk about in his televised speech from the convention on Thursday: the economy and jobs (20 percent), Iraq (19 percent), terrorism (15 percent), and health care (13 percent).
"You pretty much know what Bush's philosophy is on everything he's doing," said Mike Miller, 57, of Russellville, Ark., who is "on the fence" but favoring Kerry. "I'd like to know about Kerry's philosophy on the economy: how he's going to get our national debt down. . . . Is the deficit even a concern of his?"
"One of the main things I would like to get out of the Kerry and Edwards campaign, especially this week, is a more specific outline of what their real plans are, especially for the war in Iraq," said Morgan Cason, 19, who attends college in Evansville, Ind.
Adam Chen, 45, an engineer living in San Diego is undecided but favoring Kerry. "I don't think the Republicans' policy of tax cuts is going to create more jobs. So Democrats, what are you going to do to create more jobs? They have to answer more questions there."
Tim French, 52, lives in La Plata, Md. He wants to hear Kerry talk about terrorism. "I would like to see Kerry make a definitive statement on what his administration would expect to do in terms of fighting terrorism in the United States. Borders, law enforcement, intelligence: What is he going to be doing that is not being done now?"
A total of 1,202 randomly selected adults were interviewed July 22-25 for the poll, including 974 self-described registered voters. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for the overall results and fractionally larger for results based only on voters.
-----
Senior polling analyst Christopher Muste contributed to this report.
=============================================================
SEIU chief says Dems lack fresh ideas
Stern: Labor may be better off if Kerry loses
By David S. Broder
The Washington Post, via MSNBC News
July 27, 2004
BOSTON, July 26 - Breaking sharply with the enforced harmony of the Democratic National Convention, the president of the largest AFL-CIO union said Monday that both organized labor and the Democratic Party might be better off in the long run if Sen. John F. Kerry loses the election.
Andrew L. Stern, the head of the 1.6 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), said in an interview with The Washington Post that both the party and its longtime ally, the labor movement, are "in deep crisis," devoid of new ideas and working with archaic structures.
Stern argued that another four years of Bush policies might be less damaging than the stifling of needed reform within the party and the labor movement that he said would occur if Kerry becomes president. He said he still believes that Kerry overall would make a better president than Bush, and his union has poured huge resources into that effort. But he contends that Kerry's election would have the effect of slowing the "evolution" of the dialogue within the party.
Asked whether if Kerry became president it would help or hurt those internal party deliberations, Stern said "I think it hurts."
Stern's dissatisfaction with the AFL-CIO and the Democratic Party is not new, but his decision to voice his frustration on the opening day of a carefully scripted convention was an unwelcome surprise to Kerry's convention managers, who had been proclaiming their delight at the absence of any internal conflicts.
Speaking of the effort to create new political and union organizations, Stern said, "I don't know if it would survive with a Democratic president," because Kerry, like former president Bill Clinton, would use the party for his own political benefit and labor leaders would become partners of the new establishment.
'A hollow party'
"It is a hollow party," Stern said, adding that "if John Kerry becomes president, it hurts" chances of reforming the Democrats and organized labor.
Stern is perhaps the most outspoken of the leaders of four or five unions that have been talking of breaking away from the AFL-CIO to form some kind of new workers' movement. In the struggle for the Democratic nomination last winter, Stern's union, along with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), delivered an early endorsement to former Vermont governor Howard H. Dean -- a step that solidified Dean's status as the early favorite for the nomination.
Later in the day, AFL-CIO president John J. Sweeney told The Post that Stern's attitude "is not justified." Sweeney, also a product of the SEIU, the largest and fastest growing union within the AFL-CIO, said the process of change is already under way within labor, adding that he is impressed with "the unity and solidarity" of Democratic support for Kerry. "I'm optimistic about the future of the Democratic Party," he said.
Stern made it clear that his complaints long preceded Kerry's nomination. He said that when Clinton was president, he demonstrated how little he cared for the Democratic Party. Calling the former president "the greatest fundraiser of his time," Stern asked, "If you think the Democratic Party is valuable, why would you leave it bankrupt?" Other elected officials are equally indifferent to the party, he said, adding that if Kerry is elected "he would smother" any effort to give it more intellectual heft and organizational muscle.
The 1.6. million member SEIU representing health care and nursing home workers, state and local employees and janitors, is part of a coalition of liberal, feminist and environmental organizations working in an alliance called Americans Coming Together (ACT). The group has raised more than $85 million, according to fundraiser Harold Ickes, and hopes to reach $130 million by November. Most of the money is being spent in targeted areas to register and turn out the vote of people believed likely to support Kerry.
Stern said SEIU has put about $65 million in union resources into efforts to elect Kerry and other worker-friendly Democrats, the bulk of it directly aimed at labor efforts in behalf of the Massachusetts senator.
'Wal-Mart economy'
But Stern complained that motivating blue-collar families who have not voted in the past is being impeded because Kerry and the Democrats have declined to address what he calls "the Wal-Mart economy," a system in which he says employers deliberately keep wages so low and hours so short that workers are forced to turn to state Medicaid programs for their families' health care.
He also criticized what he called the vagueness of the Democratic platform on trade issues.
Sweeney said he thought both complaints were off-base. He said Kerry had offered a very specific health plan with real benefits for working families. And he said he was confident that, despite his history as a supporter of liberal trade agreements, Kerry was sincere in promising to include "core labor standards" in future negotiations.
Stern also said he was not interested in trying to succeed Sweeney as the head of the AFL-CIO but left the door open to leading a breakaway effort.
He said he was convinced from his experience in the civil rights movement that "pressure is needed" to bring about real change. "It was not enough to have Martin Luther King Jr.," Stern said. "You needed Stokely Carmichael" to raise the threat of disruption unless demands were met. Carmichael was the flamboyant civil rights activist known for coining the term "Black Power."
Stern is perhaps the most outspoken member of the New Unity Partnership, an alliance of SEIU, the Laborers' International Union of North America, the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union, UNITE and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. All but the carpenters union are AFL-CIO members. The partnership has repeatedly warned that declining union membership threatens the viability of organized labor, especially in the private sector, which has seen a steady decline in union workers.
During SEIU's convention in San Francisco June 21, Stern caused a stir throughout organized labor by declaring that: "Our employers have changed, our industries have changed, and the world has certainly changed, but the labor movement's structure and culture have sadly stayed the same."
Union activists must "either transform the AFL-CIO or build something stronger that can really change workers' lives," he said.
-----
Staff writer Thomas B. Edsall contributed to this report.
=============================================================
If Kerry is losing support during the convention, when every past Dem presidential has experienced a bump upwards in the polls during the convention; and Kerry has still failed to define his platform, much less his vision for America, turning off voters; and Kerry cannot even solidify his AFL-CIO union support; he is in deep kimchee. He will have to figure out how to get it together very quickly, or he is done.
