NAFTA is not a driving force in Michigan race

[question everything]

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The government officially lists Streeter as a victim of the North American Free Trade Agreement, but the 1992 trade pact won't be driving her vote in Michigan's caucuses Saturday. She said she will cast her ballot for Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, who voted for NAFTA and whose record on globalization has come under attack by his Democratic rivals, including former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

Streeter said she regards trade as an important issue in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination and feels that NAFTA was bad for American workers. But, she adds, "I also would like to see someone who is electable on the Democratic side."

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Although some studies calculate that Michigan has lost more than 50,000 jobs over the past decade because of NAFTA, experts on the state's politics and campaign strategists agree that free trade has failed to materialize as a pivotal issue in the campaign here.

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If a protectionist political message were ever to find fertile ground this year, it should be in Michigan, where about 24 percent of the work force is unionized, far more than the national average. But while anxiety over employment and anger at corporations that move jobs out of the country remain high, polls here show that the candidates who have been most outspoken in denouncing NAFTA are lagging, while Kerry continues to surge.

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Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/thu/news/news_1n5michigan.html

[LatteLib]

1. Undamnbelievable... n/t