Flush with union endorsements, Clark addresses AFL-CIO gathering

Tarryl Clark has been rolling up endorsements from labor unions all week. The Minnesota AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union’s state council and the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council all announced that they’ll be backing the state senator in her campaign to unseat U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann. So it was perhaps fitting that she addressed the Minnesota AFL-CIO’s annual political conference today.

Clark started out her brief lunchtime address with a reference to Bachmann’s recent appearance in a calendar featuring conservative women. “Michele stands with Ann Coulter and Phyllis Schlafly, and I stand with the working men and women of this state,” she said. “That’s the difference.”

Clark insisted that she can win in the conservative 6th Congressional District. She cited recent state legislative victories by Gail Kulick Jackson and Lisa Fobbe as evidence that Democrats can compete in central Minnesota. “It’s going to be fun and it’s going to be fierce, but we’re going to be victorious,” she said.

Clark and Maureen Reed are seeking the DFL endorsement to take on Bachmann.