US:WITH TWO celebrity-class candidates, Democrats have seen their presidential contest draw record voter turnout and an influx of Hispanics and younger Americans to the party. But some are becoming concerned that the party risks losing its hold on a more established set of needed supporters: blue-collar workers.
So strong are the fears that AFL-CIO, the trade union confederation, yesterday announced a multimillion-dollar campaign to discredit Republican candidate John McCain among union households and link him to US president George Bush's unpopular economic policies.
A separate union-backed group, the Campaign to Defend America, has launched a television advertisement portraying Mr McCain as "McSame as Bush" on issues including the Iraq war, economics and energy policy. It ends with a picture of the two men embracing.
This is all part of a pre-emptive effort to stem battleground-state defections by union households and other working-class voters known as Reagan Democrats - swing voters who have been courted by both parties since they tipped the balance for Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election.
"That vote is up for grabs," said David Bonior, the campaign manager for John Edwards' failed Democratic presidential bid. Democrats would have to work "incredibly hard" to blunt Mr McCain's potential appeal to working-class voters, which is based on his status as a war hero and his reputation as a political moderate.
The AFL-CIO became concerned after polls and focus groups found considerable willingness among union members to consider supporting Mr McCain, regardless of which Democrat won the nomination.
Republicans have signalled they have the Reagan Democrats at the top of their target list. Ken Mehlman, a former Republican national chairman who is advising Mr McCain informally, said the campaign would attract Reagan Democrats for the same reason the former president did: Mr McCain is seen as frank, a good leader and strong on defence.
Some analysts say the threat of defections to Mr McCain will be particularly acute if Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee. "He has an academic approach to politics that doesn't go well with Reagan Democrats," said Mr Bonior.
In many of this year's caucuses and primaries, Mr Obama has lost working-class white voters to rival Hillary Clinton. Holding on to those voters in swing states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania will be one key to the party's efforts in November against Mr McCain, the presumed Republican nominee.
Democrats have shown fairly consistent demographic patterns during the primary balloting: Mrs Clinton's strongest support has come from a coalition of lower-income and older voters, while Mr Obama has been strongest among blacks, upscale voters and the young in most states.
Union strategists were alarmed by polls and focus groups of undecided union members that showed Mr McCain doing well in match-ups with either Democratic candidate, according to Karen Ackerman, political director of the AFL-CIO. But those focus groups also found that union members knew little about Mr McCain's economic positions, including those the labour federation opposes.
The AFL-CIO hopes to change that with a campaign in 23 states to publicise his record through mailings, a new website and protests at McCain events. It will highlight his vote against increasing the minimum wage and his support for free-trade Bills that the labour federation says cost American jobs. It will also highlight his record on mortgage foreclosures, healthcare and tax breaks for wealthier Americans. -