GEORGETOWN, S.C. — When Dick Gephardt stopped in South Carolina Wednesday for a short vote-hunting dash along the Atlantic Coast, the first event was a staple of his Democratic presidential campaign: a labor union rally.
Standing on a flag-draped stage next to a shuttered steel mill in this small town, Gephardt told a crowd of about 150 that he was the only candidate they could rely on to fight international trade deals that threaten U.S. jobs.
"If you're looking for the candidate who's for fair trade, not just free trade, you're looking at the only one who was there when it counted!" the Missouri congressman said, winning applause from laid-off steelworkers as he criticized commerce agreements with Mexico and China. "I'm going to be with you! ... You can count on it. I'll show you!"
Similar scenes have unfolded time and again of late in Iowa, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and North Dakota, as Gephardt seeks to energize the union faithful who are the lifeblood of his candidacy. Next week, he plans to take his labor-rallying tour to aircraft factory workers in Washington state and to auto workers in Michigan.
To a degree unsurpassed among presidential candidates in recent decades, Gephardt is labor's man for the White House.
Union workers drive vans, knock on doors, make phone calls and pass out leaflets for him. Gephardt partied with the Transport Workers Union in Tulsa before Christmas. Hundreds of political operatives from the 21 international unions and several state affiliates that back Gephardt are swarming across Iowa to build support for him in the state's Jan. 19 caucuses -- where a win is considered essential to his candidacy.
Gephardt's dependence on these union activists is a two-edged sword. He desperately needs their help as he and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean vie for the top spot in the caucuses. Yet the more Gephardt relies on unions now, the more difficult it will be for him later in the campaign to persuade voters that his base is broader than organized labor.
Dean, for his part, has important labor support through the endorsements of public-sector and service-employee unions. He also helped deny Gephardt the coveted backing of the AFL-CIO, the union umbrella group that has taken no official stance in the race. Yet for all his clout with certain unions, Dean is not nearly as reliant as Gephardt on labor for money and foot soldiers.
