Great News: The AFL-CIO may be coming to your door to tell you how great Obama is

If the AFL-CIO comes to my door, they should be prepared to be told to get their butts back on the street immediately.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Labor unions, saying they can’t hope to compete with the new breed of conservative fundraising groups, plan to spend less money this year on specific candidates and political party organizations and more on door-to-door canvassing, phone banks and registration drives to help President Barack Obama and other Democrats.

The shift, outlined at the AFL-CIO’s annual executive council meeting near Disney World, marks a change from two years ago, when roughly two-thirds of organized labor’s campaign spending went to political parties and candidates.

“We’re not going to ever raise anything like the kind of money that our opponents have,” said AFL-CIO political director Mike Podhorzer. “But the power of people talking to each other, friends talking to friends, friends talking to neighbors is always going to trump these cheap negative ads.”

Unions hope to take advantage of a landmark 2010 Supreme Court case allowing union campaign workers to stop at the home of any voter — not just those of union members. That’s the same ruling that allows corporations and unions to spend unlimited cash in support of, or against, candidates for elected office.