=Hey, I made the cut. I bet Perrin would too. =Watching Leo justify endorsing Pataki has been fun.
What's so hard-- I'd endorse McCall but Pataki is running ads boasting about his increases in spending for education and the environment, he's signed bills to ban use of state money for union busting and raised health care workers pay massively. He sucks on a number of issues, but given the fact that he was looking to win massively, 1199 et al at least got value for endorsements that probably wouldn't have made a difference one way or the other.
For all the breastbeating by Myerson and a few others, what is notable is that Pataki is basically the only major Republican in the country to get this level of labor support precisely because he is the only one who has supported a number of key labor initiatives. There is a pragmatism to rewarding the one GOP pro-labor star (even if you have to grade massively on the curve) to make Republicans think it's worth throwing some votes labor's way.
Hey and while you third party folks will grit your teeth, throwing a few endorsements to republicans is probably far more effective in making Dems work for the pro-labor vote than endorsing a Green.
-- Nathan