As many of you probably experienced, as well, my e-mail inbox and Twitter feed filled up with Republican candidates calling on their opponents to denounce "the boycott cartel". (It sounds much more sinister to call it a "cartel", I am guessing.) Sure, the coordination of the talking/Twittering points is interesting, but I found myself looking for the story behind the content of the attack.
As the Republic story notes, the political angle makes some sense from the Republicans' POV. And, how the Democratic candidates respond will help determine voters' perceptions of the Democrats and whether it fires up the union members to kick it to another level in fighting for their candidates.
The pure political angle aside, is there a larger force pushing the Republicans to play this card so early on? It is worth considering in that the Republicans pushed really hard to get the anti-labor union "card check"-related constitutional amendment (Proposition 113) on the ballot, and that the strongly anti-labor union Americans For Prosperity* is independent expendituring for Republicans in Arizona in a BIG way. It thus becomes a reasonable assumption to anticipate a boisterous campaign on Prop. 113, and that Republican candidates will be participating at some level.
Prop. 113 AND the union participation in the reaction to S.B. 1070 - the responses from Democratic candidates (and the labor unions) tonight (in the gubernatorial debate) and the next several days will be - as they now say at the start of every sportscast - "one of the keys of the game". Because it appears that the Republicans'/anti-labor's game plan may be coordinated in more ways than one.
*Americans For Prosperity trumpeted the card check issue last year in its National Save My Ballot tour with "Joe the Plumber."
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