Unions to the rescue of Reid, Titus

Major labor unions are preparing to spend more than $100 million to protect embattled Democratic incumbents this year including Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Dina Titus in Nevada, according to a piece in The Hill today.

The Service Employees International Union is setting aside $44 million, and is focusing on a list of 15 top-priority lawmakers who voted for health care reform. The list includes Titus.

But, the Capitol Hill newspaper reports, Reid, the Senate majority leader, "will be the most important test of labor's efforts to save incumbent lawmakers."

"Unions are revving up their general-election campaigns three months earlier than usual, as soon as Reid’s Republican challenger is picked in the June 8 primary," the paper reports.

The Nevada State AFL-CIO has a three-part program in place: a worksite initiative, where workers will lobby other workers to vote for Reid; a door-to-door campaign; and direct mail paid for by the national union.

“It’s our single focus. Harry Reid has done more for the state — more than anyone in history,” Danny Thompson, executive secretary-treasurer of the Nevada State AFL-CIO, told the paper.