All Politics is Local - the EFCA Ramifications

Speaking to a labor rally before an important speech to the Pennsylvania State Democratic Committee, Senator Specter said he knew that if you want to be elected in Pennsylvania, you have to come to labor.

And then there was this exchange on EFCA:

"You want our vote? We want yours," shouted retired iron worker John Heinlein. That started a bit of give-and-take with the senator.

"I understand your job is on the line and I understand my job is on the line...I think you will be satisfied with my vote on this issue," Mr. Specter responded."

Specter "proud to be a Democrat," he tells party conclave here .

Following Specter's conversion there has been little doubt where he would end up on any EFCA compromise, but the Post-Gazette article makes clear why.

Still Pennsylvania is not Arkansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Louisiana or Maine. And it might well be those states 'local politics' that ultimately determine the fate of some form of EFCA.