Union Solidarity

Governor Chris Gregoire has been racking up union endorsements, a mostly empty exercise in light pandering, since no one can remember the last time a union endorsed a Republican.

Although such endorsements are supposedly based on intensive position interviews and the will of the members, any deviation from endorsing an incumbent democrat would be a shock. To save time and effort, or more importantly, money, the Building Industries (BIAW) and their brethren may as well use the union lists as their guide for who not to endorse, and secondary organizations on each side of the labor-management divide can follow suit.

Unions are deemed helpful in an election because they come pre-organized, capable of reaching their members quickly and effectively, and practiced at loaning out their members for door-knocking and their facilities for phone banking. Despite these ground game advantages, the time when a union could swing an election has long passed, although the historical party split remains. Democrats get endorsements in exchange for sending their campaign work to union shops, and Republicans get to rail against unions. Politics as usual.