Melanie Trottman and Brody Mullins report at The Wall St. Journal on the labor movement’s efforts to challenge Trump’s inroads with a key constituency: “Unions spend heavily to support Democrats in elections and wield great influence over whether their members support those candidates. But labor leaders fear many of their members could be drawn to Mr. Trump. Merged Wall Street Journal/NBC News polling data from the first four months of the year show that among white union households, support is split evenly between Mr. Trump and Hillary Clinton, at 44% each, in a potential general-election matchup…The AFL-CIO is preparing an education campaign to highlight some of Mr. Trump’s statements–such as that wages are too high–and lesser-known things about how he has run his businesses and treated employees, said Mike Podhorzer, political director of the nation’s largest federation of labor unions…More than half of the collective membership in AFL-CIO unions identify as Democrat, while about one-third identify as Republican and the rest as independent. The latter group is the one organized labor is most concerned about.”
Greg Sargent’s “Can Trump ride white anger into the White House? A new analysis suggests it’s a fantasy” at The Plum Line all but shreds one of the Trump campaign’s most treasured myths.
WaPo’s Ed O’Keefe and Mike DeBonis take a look “Inside Democrats’ Trump-fueled scramble to take back the House.” Most credible observations: “It’s unlikely that Democrats win back the House, but we can’t completely rule it out,” said Nathan Gonzales, editor of the Rothenberg & Gonzales political report. “Donald Trump puts enough volatility into the national political environment that we have to keep an open mind to lots of different scenarios. Gonzales anticipates that Democrats will gain at least 10 more seats, but he said that picking up the 30 needed for the majority will be “a challenge.”…House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) boasted recently that she thinks she could reclaim the speaker’s gavel. If the election were held today, she said, “We would win. We would pick up more than the 20, we could get to the 30. But it’s not today.”…Privately, some Democrats say the party waited too long to find potential candidates.”
At nasdaq.com Marshall Gittler explains why “Dollar, US Economy, Stocks: They All Do Better Under Democrats.” National Democratic leadership really ought to make an ad using the numbers Gittler offers.
At cnbc.com Jake Novak opines about “The three biggest mistakes Hillary Clinton is making right now,” including: “1. She’s taking a dive off of the platitude plateau…2. She’s letting Trump drive the agenda…3. She’s not breaking with President Obama… on ANYTHING.”
Paul Singer’s “USA TODAY VP Power Rankings: Kaine tops the list for Clinton’s running mate” features the picks of a panel of 20 political observers.
Republicans don’t just depend on voter suppression; They brag about it.
Zachary Roth’s msnbc.com post “In Ohio, battle rages over access to voting” provides an update on GOP suppression in a key state for Democrats.
Weather wonks predict high voter turnout in CA, NJ primaries on Tuesday.