In Ohio, Candidates Court Unions

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Candidates Push for March 4 Votes

Sens. Barack Obama, (D-Ill.), and Hillary Rodham Clinton, (D-N.Y.), campaign hard ahead of primaries on Tuesday, March 4, in Ohio and Texas, contests that could make or break Clinton's campaign. Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain, (R-Ariz.) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee also make last-minute pitches to voters in the two states.

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"I don't want to repeat the same struggles again and again," he said.

"I agree, somebody got to be new. We need some fresh air," Hilbret said.

"Then what's holding you back?" Hawthorne chimed in. "You see now, you can make a change."

It wasn't much easier in Parma for the AFSCME members. Knapp had little luck at houses where people were at home. At one, a woman who was called to the door by her children said that she was trying to sleep and slammed the door.

Knapp was unfazed. "You get that," she said. "People are working two or three jobs to make ends meet."

She was confident that Clinton will prevail in Ohio, thanks to the efforts of people such as her and the votes of other union members such as her husband and son, industrial roofers, and her daughter, a teacher.

"There is a perception that he is ahead in the game," Knapp said, referring to Obama and the nomination race. "But we know different. That's not really the way it is. If she stays strong with what she's going to do for the people, it'll come through for her."