Can the Democrats Deliver for the Base? Partisanship, Group Politics, and the Case of Organized Labor in the 110th Congress

Extract

On Election Night activists on the left eagerly awaited the results hoping their hard work in the election would produce a favorable shift in the balance of power in Washington. When the votes were all counted and Democrats Jim Webb (VA) and Jon Tester (MT) were finally declared the winners of Senate seats in two of the closest races, the Democrats regained control of both the House and Senate for the first time since the Republican takeover of 1994. As a result of the election, one set of interest groups would fall out of favor and another set would find new access on the Hill. Pharmaceutical firms, oil and gas companies, and student loan providers, targets of the Democrats' populist “100 Hours” agenda and big contributors to the Republicans, were instantly thrown on the defensive. Anti-war groups, environmental groups, and labor unions with weak ties to the Republican leadership and strong relationships with the incoming Democratic leaders, were newly empowered. As the legislative director for one of the largest unions, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, observed a few months into the 110^th Congress, “It's a whole new ball game. Key leaders on the Hill are much more receptive, and I look 10 years younger.”