The Daily Five: All Labor Edition (Almost)

1. Card check, please. The business lobby is pushing back against labor. Republican pollster John McLaughlin is distributing data that he says shows that labor union support for "card check" elections could hurt Democratic candidates in the fall and help Republican incumbents.

Here's how he asked the question:

If an election were held to decide whether workers would organize a union, which one of the following types of elections is the best way to protect the individual rights of workers? Having a process where a union is organized if a majority of workers simply sign a card and the workers’ signatures are made public to their employer, the union organizers and their co-workers. OR, having a federally supervised secret and private ballot election where workers privately vote yes or no on whether to authorize union representation.

More than seven of ten votes in Maine, Minnesota and Colorado favor the secret election, although the wording of the question's preamble -- "best way to protect the individual rights of workers" is a bit loaded.

Read the memo here.

McLaughlin conducted the survey for the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, a corporate group opposed to the Employee Free Choice Act, a major priority for labor unions.

Wonky side note: McLaughlin, who worked for Sen. Fred Thompson's presidential campaign, is teaming with ex-Thompson communicatons director Todd Harris on the Coalition's behalf.

Polling side note: McLaughlin's poll has Democrat Mark Udall leading by 12 points over Republican Bob Schaffer, while Sen. Norm Coleman (R) leads by six points over Al Franken (D) in Minnesota, and Sen. Susan Collins (R) has a double-digit lead over Rep. Tom Allen (D)

2. Harold Ickes confirms that Rev. Jeremiah Wright comes up in his conversations with superdelegates. ..... Howard Dean still has July 1 as the target date for the 330 undecided superdelegates to have decided. But note the sense of urgency in his voice:



3. AFSCME president Gerry McEntee is vouching for Hillary Clinton on NAFTA. Said he today, according to CBS News's Fernando Suarez: "“I know that she spoke against it, she opposed it,” McAtee said about NAFTA.

“Maybe she does not even remember this,” McAtee continued, “The day that they got the votes, Hillary Clinton called me and I was in California at a union meeting. She said, and this really sums it up, she said ‘We lost. We lost, the votes were there for NAFTA.’ So anybody who tries to hang it around her neck, is hanging it around the wrong neck.”

4. The AFT's political action committee is airing a radio ad in Pennsylvania on behalf of Clinton. It's called "Fighter," and it features testimonials to Clinton's resiliance. ... Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver (D-MO), a Clinton superdelegate, believes that Barack Obama is likely to win the nomination.....

5. Madame Secretary! Sec/State Condoleezza Rice gives workout tips in the April issue of Fitness magazine. Here are some pics...