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The candidate was met with polite applause as she toured district and interest group caucus meetings, but skepticism persisted especially amongst the roughly half of the party that supported her opponent in Indiana's May primary. That unease was punctuated dramatically by the UAW's refusal to endorse her candidacy the morning of the convention, a move that appeared designed to rain on the nominee's parade.
The UAW's support provided vital to architect Jim Schellinger's primary campaign, which received $215,000 from the autoworkers' political action committee in 2007 alone. Without the UAW's field mobilization, Schellinger would likely not have made it onto the ballot. And in 2004, the group donated $255,000 to Governor Joe Kernan's reelection campaign. Long Thompson appears set to lose at least as much in funding for her campaign as long as the UAW holds out. Though Long Thompson minimizes the problem by asserting that the bulk of the UAW's volunteers will hit the pavement against Governor Daniels whether or not she receives a formal endorsement, the financial loss will be significant for a campaign that already acknowledges it will never reach fundraising parity with Daniels.
UAW Region Three Chief Mo Davidson announced the union's "problem" with Long Thompson at the group's State Convention caucus almost two months after he submitted a letter to the Indiana Election Commission questioning how Long Thompson funded her television advertising, accusing her of "Washington political games." Davidson wrote that he was "calling into question her commitment to ethics," though not accusing her of any crimes "at [the] time."
Long Thompson over the weekend was intent on healing wounds. "If you do in November what you did in May," she told the UAW members, "we're going to have a Democratic governor." Asking, "Are you going to work as hard as you did in the primary?" Long Thompson seemed to implicitly say, work for me this fall as hard as you worked against me in the spring. Please.
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Yet there is only so much the candidate can do, and this weekend it appeared as if the UAW is working as hard against her even now as it did during the primary. UAW head Davidson indicated during the convention that not only would his union hold out support for Long Thompson, but that the
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union might as well. The group has yet to vote on an endorsement. (AFSCME gave Governor Kernan's campaign $200,000 in 2004.)
And Schellinger himself sought to send another storm cloud to the victor's celebration over the weekend, publishing an editorial Friday in the Indianapolis Star that used the word "I" sixteen times and not mentioning Long Thompson once. It even seemed to take subtle digs at the former Congresswoman and longtime politician, expressing the wish that his campaign "will be an example for others who want to serve the public but who believe there is no place on the ballot for outsiders, first-timers and nontraditional candidates." He incredulously cast himself as a not-entirely-welcome rebel against the machine, encouraging others like him to "feel just as welcome running for office as someone who's been involved in politics for decades."
The newspaper was the only place to find Schellinger, who despite writing that he would "absolutely" mount a hypothetical future campaign, decided to skip the convention and congratulations.
Instead of rallying the base, Davidson focused on preventing a public maelstrom. "We don't need to be bad mouthing each other; that's just what the news media and the Republicans want," he said. The convention's veneer of unity was little more than just that.
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