Union leaders are pushing a big money-maker (for them). It goes by the very Orwellian name, the ?Employee Free Choice Act.? In fact, if this idea of theirs becomes law, it will eliminate free choice. Instead of a safe secret ballot, employees will be under enormous pressure to sign a ?card check? indicating that they will accept a union and the obligation to pay union dues. Senator Obama supports it. John McCain opposes it.

Turns out this idea, once explained, is highly unpopular with the public. One of the best pollsters in either party is a fellow named John McLaughlin, president of McLaughlin & Associates. (Not that old whale on TV.)

Here?s the good John McLaughlin, making it as simple as 1-2-3, backed up by real research:

[1] Labor will spend exorbitant amounts of money to elect a Democratic president and to secure a filibuster-proof Senate, so the threat of EFCA being enacted is real. The irony is that Democratic support for this unpopular legislation could be the reason the party falls short of the magical 60 votes in the Senate.

[2] Voters intrinsically support the concept of private ballot elections. They are worried about the potential of workers being coerced and intimidated under the card-check scheme. And they see little need to change the existing balance in current labor laws to make it easier for unions to organize nonunion workplaces.

[3] More important, they resent and oppose efforts to take away an individual?s right to a private and secret ballot. These inconvenient facts for Big Labor can be exploited to the detriment of the candidates it supports. Smart candidates will not want to be on the wrong side of this issue come Election Day.