Date posted online: Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Ex-LTV worker asks nation's question
What would Dems do for 'the woman he loves?'
Seven Democratic Presidential hopefuls learned Tuesday night at Soldier Field that nothing rouses a crowd like one of its own speaking straight from the gut.
Steve Skvara, of Union Township in Porter County, prompted the only standing ovation of the night from 12,000 union members when he asked what the candidates would do to get "the woman he loves" health care.
Part of an emotional plea in the last half-hour of the AFL-CIO's Presidential Candidates Forum, Skvara's question brought the audience immediately to its feet.It seemed to knock candidates off their game for a moment, bringing home the national debate over health care.
A 34-year employee of LTV, which folded in the steel industry collapse five years ago, Skvara said he lost much of his pension and now sits across from his wife at the table knowing he can't afford her health care.
In addition to being heard by those at Soldier Field, Skvara's question was heard by a national audience on MSNBC.
Contacted after the debate by phone, Skvara's wife, Sandy, said she liked John Edwards' response best. Edwards said when he takes office as president he would see that CEOs of companies are treated just like their workers.
Union members from across the Midwest came to the debate among the seven Democratic primary contestants wanting to hear plain answers, according to Steve Kramer, of Dyer, a United Steelworkers Local 1010 member.
He arrived two-and-a-half hours early for the debate, along with a couple hundred other union members who were waiting for the south gate of the stadium to open at 4 p.m.
Kramer and others waited beneath the fluttering American flags of Soldier Field in 90-degree-plus heat, wearing T-shirts with the words "Union Activist" spelled out in big yellow letters on the back.
"I'm just hoping they'll address the issues in a straightforward manner in language we all can understand," Kramer said.
At the 6 p.m. debate, some candidates answered that call and some did not.
Despite pleas from the moderator to keep their emotions in check, union members packing the Soldier Field end zone let fly, reserving their biggest applause and cheers for Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
His statement that he would get out of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization drew whoops from union members, who have seen more than a million U.S. jobs exported under those agreements.
When Kucinich told union members, "If you want out of NAFTA let's hear it," he drew a raucous favorable response from the crowd.
Hillary Clinton drew boos on more than one occasion when the crowd felt she wasn't answering the question asked.
Barak Obama drew loud approval when reminding the other candidates he was the guy who was against going to war with Iraq from the beginning.
United Steelworkers Local 1010 member Joe Woessner said he liked Kucinich's straight talk, even if the candidate doesn't have a prayer of getting the nomination.
"Everyone claims to be for workers, but look at those other guys," he said. "Four-hundred-dollar haircuts don't connect with workers."
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