Steve Smith

The AFL-CIO is readying a major anti-McCain blitz timed to McCain's big convention night tomorrow, unleashing 10,000 volunteers that will deliver fliers hitting McCain to some 200,000 households in five battleground states during the convention's final festivities.

Here's a look at the flyer, which hasn't been released yet and boasts a heavy emphasis on kitchen-table and trade issues (click on the image to enlarge):

The flyer seeks to directly counter-program McCain's message tomorrow, which (aside from POW-POW-POWing) will seek to paint him as a reformer with a career of independence from the GOP and a history of bucking George W. Bush.

To that end, it hits McCain on a triumvirate of economic issues: Health care, NAFTA, and Social Security. It emphasizes McCain's 26 years in Washington, the multitude of lobbyists working on or raising cash for his campaign, and the likelihood that McCain will continue Bush's economic policies.

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National Stonewall Democrats recently held a press conference to report that there are 365 openly-LGBT 2008 Democratic National Convention participants.  This is an increase from a total of 275 openly-LGBT convention participants reported in 2004.

In a just-released document (PDF) obtained by the Blend, John Marble of NSD  has provided the full list of LGBT delegates, alternates and pages.

See the full list (converted to HTML) below the fold.

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In a move that signals a major new effort to woo elderly voters to Obama, the AFL-CIO is dropping a scorching new mailer in battleground states hammering John McCain on Social Security and directly referencing McCain's wealth, his corporate jet, and his expensive Italian shoes.

"McCain's worth over $100 million," reads the mailer, which we obtained in advance of its public release. "He owns 10 houses...he flies around on a $12.6 million corporate jet...he walks around in $520 Italian loafers."

"If John McCain lost his social security, he'd get by just fine," the mailer continues. "Would you?" Click on the images below to enlarge:

The new mailer, which highlights McCain's history of support for privatizing Social Security, signals a recognition that unions can play a role reaching out to what they think will be a pivotal swing state vote: Retired union members.

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In a sign that the big labor unions are about to ratchet up efforts to woo Rust Belt union Dems towards Obama, the AFL-CIO is set to blitz four swing states with a pair of mailers targeted directly at blue collar swing voters.

The first one is the more interesting one: It seeks to dispel a host of false rumors about Obama that could be proving worrisome to working class whites, including the falsehoods that he's a Muslim and doesn't show sufficient deference to the flag (click on the images to enlarge)...

The second mailer is a more straighforward testimonial to Obama's labor record, and the mailers will go out in the next couple of weeks to about 600,000 swing voters in Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, according to AFL-CIO spokesperson Steve Smith.

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