HRC AT THE SEIU. Hillary's goal today is to recast herself as a populist, despite organized labor's skepticism of her husband's trade policies and her own ties to corporate donors and advisers. "People say, 'Well, when you're president, will labor have a seat at the table?' Labor built the table," she says. To a great round of applause, Hillary predicts, "We will finally pass the Employee Free Choice Act. I will sign it on the White House lawn and you all will be invited." And here's a proposal I haven't heard before: "Increases in Congressional pay should be linked to raises in the minimum wage." Carefully tackling trade, Clinton talks about legislation she has introduced in the Senate to review trade bills every five years to reassess their fairness. She promises trade won't come at the expense of labor standards and the middle class. Unlike her rivals, Hillary doesn't direct any veiled barbs at her fellow Democrats. She keeps the focus on President Bush, which goes over well with crowd: "He's a radical who has conducted a dangerous experiment in extremism." That's some of the strongest language I've heard her use campaigning. She's creates a narrative in which the United States, on a steady course of progress for people of color, women, people with disabilities, and LGBT people, stopped short when Bush took office in 2001. She also brings up an issue no one else has talked about today -- the Supreme Court's recent 5-4 decision to make it next to impossible for women and minorities to file pay discrimination complaints. --Dana Goldstein
