Gephardt Faces Challenges, Chances in Iowa

W A S H I N G T O N, Feb. 24 -- Unions helped Dick Gephardt win the Iowa Democratic caucus in 1988, but political supporters of the veteran lawmaker are uneasy about his chances in next year's presidential contest.

Sixteen years ago, Gephardt won the caucus by telling Iowans he was a regular guy who understood that farmers and workers were hurting. He won the backing of the state's behemoth United Auto Workers union by attacking the influence of overseas automakers.

Now that Gephardt has formally entered the 2004 race and is making his first swing through crucial Iowa, the Missouri congressman and former House Democratic leader is trying to build a coalition of labor interests more aligned with the concerns of today's workers while keeping longtime supporters happy.

"This a different campaign for a different office — not Congress — and we are going to aggressively go and seek their support," a senior Gephardt adviser said of outreach to unions.

That is in part because the character and demographics of labor unions in Iowa have changed since 1988, even as unions continue to exercise disproportionate influence in the party's nominating contests.

"The Quad Cities … area used to be called the farm-implement capital of the world because every [town] had jobs in manufacturing. Now, it's not," said Ken Golden, a spokesman for John Deere, the farm and construction equipment company.

By contrast, some of the public employees unions, like the state branch of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers, have almost doubled in size. And many service unions, like groups representing teachers, remain somewhat insulated from short-term economic downturns.

Because government, schools and hospitals can't be exported to other countries, their unions aren't terribly worried about trade, which was Gephardt's signature issue in 1988 and about which he talked at length when he announced his presidential candidacy.

"The blue-collar unions, which have faced all those issues that Gephardt appeals to, have declined," said Hugh Winebrenner, a historian of Iowa politics.