The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

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All indications are that AFSCME and SEIU leadership are prepared to pull the plug on their endorsement of Dean and open up the vetting process so that they can meet with John Kerry and Sen. John Edwards in the coming days.

"The expectation is that we will be throwing our support behind Kerry by the middle of February," says an AFSCME staffer in Washington. "We don't want to wait around. We want to have those AFSCME signs waving behind a winner before March, when the nomination will pretty much be in hand."

Already organized labor groups with past loyalties to Rep. Dick Gephardt have been meeting with both Kerry and Edwards, but not Dean.

p> OSCAR POINTERS br> Earlier this week, the Democratic 527 soft money PAC known as America Coming Together came together with some New York-based left-wing groups such The Media Fund, founded by Hillary svengali Harold Ickes , to sponsor an "Out With Bush" night similar to the "Hate Bush" event held in Beverly Hills last December. The gathering was held at the New York Society for Ethical Culture. /p>

One thing that came out of it, according to an attendee, was a plan to provide talking points to all the agents and media advisers of persons nominated for an Academy Award. The hope is that the pointers will prove useful should any of these actors choose to slam the president in their acceptance speeches before a live national audience.

"It will just be a page of clever insults and shots at the Bush Administration," says the attendee. "The idea came up when someone said that she hoped Sean Penn would win for 'Best Actor,' because she just knew that his speech would be nothing but shots at Bush and bluster about Iraq. From there, someone suggested giving other nominees lines and ideas to use. There is this school of thought that if enough people do it, it will really hurt Bush."

topics:
Iraq, Unions