-Andy English
-----Original Message----- From: Jim Hurd <jhurd at bloomington.in.us> To: DSA <dsanet at quantum.sdsu.edu> Date: Thursday, June 22, 2000 1:39 PM Subject: dsanet: Teamsters Praise Green Party's Nader, Warn Gore
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>The author of this message is Jim Hurd <jhurd at bloomington.in.us>
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>Teamsters Praise Green Party's Nader, Warn Gore
>
>By Alan Elsner
>Reuters
>
>WASHINGTON (June 22) - In a clear warning to Al Gore, Teamsters Union
>President James Hoffa appeared alongside Green Party presidential
>candidate Ralph Nader Thursday, and lambasted the vice president for his
>support of free trade agreements.
>
>Hoffa, who has just completed a year as head of the 1.5 million-strong
>International Brotherhood of Teamsters, did not endorse Nader's insurgent
>presidential campaign but made it clear he was a long way from throwing
>his support to Gore, the Democratic presidential candidate.
>
>Hoffa said as far as he was concerned Gore was no better than his
>Republican presidential rival, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, on the key issue
>of trade.
>
>''There is no distinction between Al Gore and George W. Bush when it comes
>to trade,'' Hoffa declared after Nader had addressed the Teamsters
>24-member general executive board behind closed doors. ''I think he (Gore)
>is wrong on trade ... We agree wholeheartedly with what Mr. Nader has
>said.''
>
>As far as a presidential endorsement was concerned, Hoffa said: ''We're
>going to continue to wait. We're not going to hurry to endorse. We think
>there's time. We have options of endorsing or not endorsing.''
>
>BUSH LEADS IN POLLS
>
>Gore is trailing Bush in public opinion polls and the gap has widened in
>the past two weeks to about eight to 12 percentage points. One key reason
>is that the vice president is still getting the support of only about 70
>percent of registered Democrats.
>
>In a Wall Street Journal poll released Thursday, Bush led Gore 43-38
>percent in a four-man race, with Nader scoring 7 percent and Pat Buchanan,
>who also opposes free trade agreements from the political right, scoring 4
>percent.
>
>Last year, the Teamsters and the United Auto Workers abstained when the
>AFL-CIO labor federation endorsed Gore for president.
>
>The two unions' reservations about Gore have hardened since late last
>month when the House passed an administration-backed bill providing for
>permanent normal trade relations with China, which Hoffa predicted would
>lead to a loss of more than a million jobs.
>
>Nader, 66, best known as an advocate of consumer rights who made his
>reputation exposing unsafe products in the automobile industry, spoke
>vehemently against the trade deals the Clinton administration has pushed
>through in the past seven years.
>
>''Perish the phrase 'free trade.' There's no such thing as free trade with
>dictatorial regimes who keep costs down by brute force and lure U.S.
>companies to those countries,'' he said.
>
>He later flew to Denver where the Green Party convention was expected to
>formally nominate him for president this weekend.
>
>NADER COULD TIP BALANCE
>
>With the Greens expected to qualify for the ballot in all 50 states,
>Democrats fear that in a close race between Gore and Bush, Nader could tip
>the balance in the direction of the Texas governor in the Nov. 7 election.
>
>Hoffa also called for the inclusion of both Nader and Buchanan, who is
>running for the Reform Party presidential nomination, in upcoming
>presidential debates. Under rules set out by the bipartisan commission
>organizing the three planned encounters, only candidates reaching 15
>percent support in the polls will be invited to take part.
>
>''A debate between just Al Gore and Bush will never focus on trade. It
>will never focus on jobs going overseas. Only Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan
>have stood with American workers on trade,'' Hoffa said.
>
>While the Teamsters under Hoffa's predecessor, Ron Carey, backed President
>Clinton in both of his election campaigns, it was the one major national
>union that consistently backed Republican presidential candidates in the
>1970s and 1980s.
>
>Hoffa said Gore had divorced himself from the concerns of working people
>and union members.
>
>''The problem with a lot of the candidates and one of the problems with
>Gore, is they do not listen to labor, they do not listen to the
>sensitivities of working people, that they are working in a small spectrum
>of ideas,'' he said.
>
>''He's very limited in what he's doing,'' Hoffa said. ''He should listen
>to labor. He should get more in tune with us.''
>
Some other interesting comments --
The author of this message is "J. Hughes" <jhughes at changesurfer.com>
http://www.msnbc.com/news/423823.asp
In the latest NBC/WSJ poll, Bush "won the support of 49 percent of the respondents in the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, while Gore got 41 percent. Five percent of the respondents said they preferred a candidate other than Gore or Bush and another 5 percent said they were not sure who they will support on Election Day."
When the poll includes Nader and Buchanan, Nader garners 7% of the vote; Buchanan gets 4%.
The gap between Gore and Bush narrows in the 4-way race: Absolutely from an 8-point gap to a 5-point gap and relatively (Gore gets a 1.5% increase in the share of Gore/Bush votes combined).
Who said "spoiler?"
And another view --
The author of this message is ANDERSON DAVID <andersd at spot.Colorado.EDU>
Nader may help Gore by forcing Gore to become more liberal populist. Many of the swing voters (and disillusioned non-voters) are working class people who aren't excited by wishy washy centrism. Also these people will most likely vote for Democrats running for other offices.
Even though I don't care much for Jimmy Hoffa Junior, his endorsement or friendly non-endorsement of Nader today might shake up things in a way which will have long-term good consequences. That is, many Teamsters might come to consider the Green Party view (that is, a generally left progressive view) of the world for the first time.
Dave Anderson