Candidates focus on job creation

The AFL-CIO will meet
today to decide if they will endorse a candidate yet.

CHICAGO (AP) — Democratic presidential candidates said Tuesday the nation should invest more money in infrastructure and less in the Iraq war, citing the Minneapolis bridge collapse as a symptom of neglect.

The candidates cast the matter as one of creating jobs as they addressed thousands of labor union activists, a constituency that could prove pivotal in deciding which contender emerges as the party’s nominee.

The 90-minute debate, held outdoors at Soldier Field, was sponsored by the AFL-CIO.

“Putting our country back to work begins by cutting the funding for the war in Iraq,” said Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd. He said $1 billion in domestic infrastructure spending would create 40,000 jobs.

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said, “We have to make investments in infrastructure,” adding that it would create jobs and improve security at ports, tunnels and other potential terrorist targets.

Several questions dealt with trade, a sensitive subject for union activists who argue that too many U.S. jobs have gone overseas.

Touching on NAFTA

Labor leaders often have criticized the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement, which was enacted by former President Clinton, the New York senator’s husband.

Hillary Clinton defended the pact, saying the nation needs “broad reform” of trade. “NAFTA is a piece of it, but it’s not the only piece,” she said.

Her chief rivals — Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards — also stopped short of saying NAFTA should be scrapped. But they criticized the front-running Clinton for her ties to lobbyists and Wall Street.

“You’ll never see me on the cover of Fortune magazine,” Edwards said, digging at Clinton, who recently was featured there.The AFL-CIO’s executive council will meet today to decide whether to begin the labor federation’s endorsement process immediately or wait.

The AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest federation of labor unions, didn’t endorse a candidate in the 2004 primary. Its rules say two-thirds of the AFL-CIO’s individual unions must agree on a candidate before an endorsement, and that didn’t happen.