The Politico is reporting this morning on big labor and their special interest support for Democratic candidates this year.

Labor has always played a significant role in Democratic politics, but rarely has it been called upon to do more than it will be asked to do this year. ...

In recent years, organized labor has done an excellent job convincing its membership to support Democratic candidates. Studies have shown that organized labor’s efforts directed at union households have increased support for Democratic candidates 15 percent to 20 percent, as compared with nonunion households. Labor is a credible messenger to its own members on issues such as jobs and health care. ...

From an organizational sense, labor is split into two camps. The AFL-CIO holds together a number of unions including AFSCME, and a new group, Change to Win, works with others such as SEIU and the Teamsters.

Both the AFL-CIO and the Change to Win unions have significant programs directed toward labor union households and will be spending major resources on behalf of the Democratic nominee. The AFL-CIO has established a well-regarded door-to-door program called Working America, which is attempting to expand the playing field by signing up households not affiliated with a particular international union to become at-large AFL-CIO members.

The issues big labor supports may be important to a small but powerful group of union bosses, but they hurt the nation's competitiveness on the global market and raise prices for American consumers.