The Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) says that both Michelle Obama as well as John And Elizabeth Edwards have cancelled upcoming appearances on ABC's The View "in support of our striking writers there. We hope others continue to follow their example.” Most of the Democratic presidential candidates -- John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, Joe Biden and Bill Richardson -- have publicly pledged not to cross the WGA picket lines as well as picket lines at CBS should WGA-CBS News members go on strike. 
But the potential walkout could cancel a December 10th debate scheduled among the contenders in Los Angeles because CBS is to broadcast the event co-sponsored by the Democratic National Committee. "It is my hope that both sides will reach an agreement that results in a secure contract for the workers at CBS News, but let me be clear: I will honor the picket line if the workers at CBS News decide to strike," Hillary Clinton said. Edwards, on a conference call with reporters, said he would not cross the picket line in the event of a strike. Spokesmen for Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd also said those candidates would not participate. CBS News writers on Monday authorized their union leaders to call a national strike. Democratic spokeswoman Karen Finney said the committee would monitor the CBS labor situation, and she indicated the party would cancel the debate in the event of a strike. "The Democratic Party believes the right to organize and collectively bargain is one of our most fundamental rights, and we are proud to stand with the working men and women in the labor movement," Finney said. "Given the Democratic Party's long history of supporting the labor movement in America, if the strike is still going on, we will not cross the picket lines." Meanwhile, here's a new article on the difficult relationship caused by the WGA strike between the Democratic White House wannabes and their Hollywood mogul campaign contributors from the conservative viewpoint Weekly Standard.
John Edwards is a “frontrunner”?
Comment by whirlly — November 21, 2007 @ 6:09 pm
The Weekly Standard article, by Jonathan Last (the online editor of the Standard!), is the most stunningly ignorant and inaccurate article. Every single piece of information about the industry and its economics is wrong. I didn’t know that an actor could “receive residual payouts” of between $20-70 million on a single picture!! Incredibly shoddy, lazy journalism.
That said, of course it’s true that the Democratic candidates are conflicted — and if it’s true that Pelosi will not comment on the strike, it’s a truly cowardly position.
Comment by Apollo — November 21, 2007 @ 7:16 pm
Whatever, they cancelled because the View is crap and this was a great excuse.
Comment by TWoP Fan — November 21, 2007 @ 7:56 pm
Don’t you think the real reason they are not crossing the picket line for the CBS debate is that they just found out it’s going to be Katie Couric moderating? Now there’s hard hitting… She’s a joke and that makes the debate a joke. Maybe she can get them to reveal their secret recipe for poached eggs. D.
Comment by David G. — November 22, 2007 @ 5:28 am
I thought it was a pretty good article actually, balanced in its presentation of the issues. One can quibble with the numbers listed, but the underlying point is still valid, i.e. that people are having a hard time relating to Hollywood writers as “working class” so they don’t get the same sympathy as say auto workers. However, the author to me was clearly sympathetic with the reasons for the strike and made a point to explain why residuals are so important.
Sure would be nice if we could have some politicians though that just acted based on their core beliefs, and didn’t have to parse and triangulate everything they do based on their big money donors.
Comment by Dave — November 22, 2007 @ 8:07 am