DaytonDailyNews.com

DENVER — Tom Ritchie and Marica Knox, both from the Dayton-area, are here as Hillary Clinton delegates to the Democratic National Convention, but both are already backing Barack Obama in the November election.

"If you were for Hillary, you have to be for Barack," said Knox, on Sunday, Aug. 24. Knox, like Ritchie, is a leader in AFSCME, the largest public employee and health care workers union in the United States. Union voters strongly supported Clinton in the primaries – 55-43 percent in Ohio – and how well Obama does in convincing them to transfer their support could determine whether he beats Republican John McCain in November.

Union influence is big here at the convention where one-fourth of the delegates come from organized labor and thousands of them, including Knox and Ritchie, rallied Sunday at the Colorado Convention Center. Fifty of Ohio's 162 delegates come from unions, said Tim Burga, chief of staff for the Ohio AFL-CIO.

Obama's selection of U.S. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, a long-time labor ally, as his running mate should help Obama, said political scientist Larry Sabato.

"Obama has to hope that Biden can connect with Hillary-inclined white union members," said Sabato of the University of Virginia. "Biden speaks their language. He is also surprisingly little known. But Obama cannot afford to lose 20 or 30 percent of the Hillary vote. It is going to take a lot of work by the Democrats at the convention and beyond to unify the party base."

Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania are the three top states in the AFL-CIO's $53.4 million effort to reach the union voters, Karen Ackerman, AFL-CIO political director, said at a Sunday briefing.

The labor federation already has worked to dispel inaccurate rumors that Obama is a Muslim and that he doesn't put his hand on his heart to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, Ackerman said.

Race is an issue for some white union voters, Ackerman said. They've never before had the chance to vote for a black candidate for president, she said.

"We feel confident we can overcome that," said Ackerman. The key is a member-to-member approach at the workplace level, convincing union members that Obama is right on the issue that matters most – the economy, she said.

Back in Dayton, that's what Ritchie is emphasizing.

"Our discussion is about jobs and issues," he said. "We connect those things to this candidate and I think our folks see that Obama is right for the change."

McCain isn't conceding the union vote and is using some of Biden's past criticism of Obama against his Democratic opponent.

"Working families in Ohio continue to share Joe Biden's belief that Barack Obama lacks the experience and judgment to lead our nation. That's why John McCain will continue to engage Ohioans of every political party and background on his plans to create jobs and get our economy moving again," said Paul Lindsay, McCain spokesman, in a prepared statement.

Obama, however, has the answers that union voters are seeking, Ritchie said.

"I think he's going to carry Ohio," Ritchie said.

Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1608 or whershey@CoxNews Service.com.