In June in these pages I talked about the complex of issues that have driven the Tom Corbett administration in Pennsylvania. A nearly identical agenda has driven the other Republican controlled state governments. Now more than 1/3 of the Senate is up, control of this chamber in play as well as 37 governorships, and the agenda the right has relentlessly pursued is facing voter scrutiny.

Tradition and experience dub mid-term elections relatively low turn-out events, but a closer look at the election returns of a few recent years shows that if democratic majorities - pro union, people of color, youth and others - turn out in sufficient numbers it's possible to defeat anti-union, racist, anti-democratic Republican/tea party candidates.

Key to electoral change that will benefit working men and women is the engagement of the labor movement and movements with whom it has political/electoral ties. Previewing the AFL-CIO's plans for November, Political Director Michael Podhorzer emphasized this year is not 2010. That year saw the Democratic majority overturned in what was an electoral rout. The House was won by the Right, and there was a significant increase the number of Republican/tea party governors and legislators. That led directly to legislative initiatives to curb the right to vote, reduce funding for public education, cut and privatize public workers pensions funds, block Medicade expansion, control and reduce women's healthcare, and gerrymander districts to keep political control. Giving a complete picture of the state of affairs, the Federation, with it's labor councils around the country, has engaged members, families, friends and allies to register and vote this November. To say 2014 is a hotly contested election year is to understate what's going on.

The Federation selected these states and contests as concentration areas. These governors are Republican/tea party: Florida, Rick Scott; Michigan, Rick Snyder; Maine, Paul LePage; Ohio, John Kasich; Wisconsin, Scott Walker; and in Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett.

Labor is clearly aiming to build political infrastructure for future elections. The AFL-CIO has continued to identify local and non-partisan races to train interested workers to run effective electoral campaigns. In New Jersey and other states, this effort pre-dates this election. In California and a few other states, as well as in some local contests, a non partisan process in place, opening up the nomination of candidates who are beyond the two parties. As electoral awareness has gown some activists have entered the contest. This is a significant step, and the results will be watched closely. TheWorking Families Party is opening efforts in Eastern Pa. And possibly running candidates for Philly's City Council in 2015. The Party has a presence in 6 states and the District of Columbia. Over time the Working Families Party has shown real promise engaging and supporting traditional Democrats and developing an independent base. This effective tactic has brought the organization considerable ability to support and criticize Democrats. Working Families Party utilizes the fusion tactic of running candidates who also appear as candidates on other lines. More challenges in the Democratic Party too provide an avenue for improving the quality of candidates.

The politics of the Senate seats that are up this year favor the Republicans. All summer the editorial lead has been: Republicans are likely to take control of the Senate. Whether or not that is true, every election has it's peculiarities. Stuff happen-- such as what has happened in Kansas. The seat of Republican incumbent Roberts was considered safe. He had two opponents, an Independent and a Democrat. The Independent's poll numbers began to grow making national news, indicating weakness in the Republican campaign. Democrats took the remarkable step of withdrawing their candidate in a move to favor the election of the Independent. The Independent candidate suggested that if he were to win he might caucus with the Democrats. Now there is turmoil in Kansas. The back drop is the failed economic policies pursued by Governor Brownback and his tea party Republican legislature. The Kansas Supreme Court has ruled that the Democrats can remove their candidate from the ballot; still weeks of campaigning remain.

The chief objective of the labor movement and democratic allies is to protect gains: social security, medicare, the right to organize, to vote, womens' right to health care among others. Clearly this includes electing labor, pro-labor and progressive candidates. This focus is on the rabid politics that seek the elimination of unions, women's rights, gay and civil rights. With the growth of electoral activity in the past years these objectives remain the center of attention.

Recently in the pages of Political Affairs, John Bachtell, new chair of the CPUSA offered his thinking on the role of elections in struggle for socialism. There are many sides to the arguments that need to be explored. Among the questions to ask - What would it take to build this kind of political movement? Clearly it's desirable. Is it possible?

My first thought is that there are two categories to try and answer. First, obstacles that are in law and how the electoral process is structured by political parties and by the state. And second, obstacles in thinking, how millions of people think about politics and elections and how people participate.

Here are some initial thoughts.

During the years before 2010 a number of states expanded voting time, some states by weeks or days, some by hours, and some allowing polls to open on Sundays. Oregon made news by making voting possible by mail ballot. In sum these were the biggest changes since the Voting Rights Act of l965 and the Constitutional amendment permitting voting at age 18. Republican resistance to expanding voter registration in the early Clinton administration was intended to narrow the final motor voter law, a law that was to simply expand the avenues for people to register to vote.

For decades during the post Vietnam war era, there were numerous studies showing the US to be way behind the curve among developed nations in expanding suffrage. The embarrassing numbers of actual electoral returns tarnished the national mantel of world's democratic leader. The 2000 election (Bush v Gore), the long lines of would be voters and the ensuing Constitutional crisis underscored the problem. In the following decade these obstacles drew practical attention; some states, responding to pressure, addressed the issue. That change which expanded access to the ballot in a number of states came to a crashing halt just after the 2010 election.

The ALEC inspired legislation made the rounds of state capitols. Right wing controlled legislatures with new zeal tried to repeal the expanded voting times and ease of voter registration. They also introduced the onerous feature of requiring new forms of identification, many requiring the presentation of a birth certificate. Most of us couldn't find our birth certificate. In communities that are poor, communities where people of color reside and people who were born in another nation, this is often insurmountable. This was a clear effort to disenfranchise people who would vote against the Republican tea party candidates. Some of the court decisions striking down this law, said just that. Nearly half of US states still face this.

The response to the wave of voter restriction laws was big and impressive. National civil rights and liberties organizations built local and state coalitions to popularize and oppose and they went to court. At this writing, the fight to reverse all of these laws is an issue. About half of the restrictive laws have been stayed or reversed by the courts but some remain in effect in whole or part. The Wisconsin law was recently upheld by the state Supreme Court. Wisconsin's Scott Walker is standing for election. The national news media picked up a recent comment by a North Carolina legislator who said that two polling places in his state needed to be closed down on Sundays because they were close to African American Churches.

Another area of voter expansion is the on going struggle to pass Immigration Reform. One important aspect of such reform is citizenship for the millions of people who live and work in the shadow of deportation. Such reform is crucial for our democracy and the lives of people whose crime is their desire to earn a living and raise a family. The continued full throated support of the AFL-CIO among a broad group of organizations, is critical to passage.

Yet another piece of pending legislation is the effort to restore a critical piece of the 1965 Voting Right law. The Supreme Court in a 5 to 4 decision struck down a core element of the law. That of course was the ability of the Justice Dept. to intervene before change takes effect in counties where there is a history of restricting the right to vote. The shape of this particular legislative effort is yet undetermined. The terms of Federal legislation/ action to remedy disenfranchisement will be influenced by this years' outcome and experience.

So, it fair to conclude we are already deeply into the fight to increase the ability of millions of Americans to vote in elections. It is a complex fight and it is a state by state affair.

North Carolina's voting expansion law had included an important new provision. That was a program to register high school seniors. This gave voting advocates an opportunity to talk with teens discussing their stake in politics and the electoral process. The right made sure they got rid of this provision.

Obstacles in law are accompanied by obstacles in mass thinking about politics and elections and is reflected in turnout. Millions observe that politics is a difficult business, unpleasant, often self serving, and sometimes difficult to understand. It is plainly influenced by an abundance of corporate money and the limited resources of working people . Politics affects life but it is not always clear how "my activity or my vote" affects the outcome. The clarity that can come with experience can be difficult acquire. As recent polling on the US response to the expanding war in Syria and Iraq revealed that people do hear and do participate in the discussion and form opinions. War and peace, jobs and income, justice and injustice move the electorate and potential voters as they understand them.

In the Pennsylvania governor's race the overwhelming issue is state funding for education. Across the state school districts are hurting from budget cuts, and most will be forced to increase local real estate taxes to meet educational obligations. Millions are moved by this and Corbett's polling number reflect it. Similarly the failure of the Republicans to back an extraction tax on shale drilling has hurt them, and the attendant environmental issues that surround the drilling are not yet being placed for voter discussion and remedy.

So the key is the placing of issues that have meaning for working men and women, issues that affect us today and on down the road. Issues count, and the remedies proposed count. It has been recent experience that when the democratic movements can place an issue on the ballot, such as a mandate to increase the state minimum wage, voters will register, turn out and vote in greater numbers.

Candidates also count. Many of us can remember the wave of African American candidates who ran for mayor in a wide range of US cities. Those candidates with their program to improve living conditions for people in our cities inspired voter registration drives and often a record breaking electoral turn out. That's still going on in Newark, N. J. with considerable increase in political understanding. The issues mattered, and pride from the African American community mattered. It still does. The same is true for candidates who come from the ranks of the labor movement. It's often necessary to herald their accomplishments. Men and women who have experience leading unions, leading organizing drives, leading the struggle to build electoral power provide a reservoir. Chicago is having such an experience as the leader of the Chicago Federation of Teachers is rumored to be making a bid for mayor of that great city.

Classes and training for candidates are important. Then there's actually running, the very best school for learning. As everybody knows the best advertising is word of mouth - the very effective community gossip mill, the first and irreplaceable newspaper can help make a candidate, especially a local one.

Emily's List is also another source of great experience serving to help pro-choice women from many social groups into the world of political life. It would be great to see more women who come from the ranks of labor become candidates.

Voters learn quickly about candidate integrity. Who is the candidate associated with, what's her experience, what does she think? When candidates express working class ideas, it's often picked up. Is he lending insight to the issues facing public education? Is she talking about making it today and preparing the way for the future?

Folks who have experience in unions, community, civil rights and liberties organizations, and those who are left need to get into it. Building political/electoral infrastructure is not far fetched. It's going on now.

To be clear, the thumb nail description I've given does not tap into the experience of these candidates. For our analysis, it helps point a direction. John Bachtell is offering a tactical approach that has the potential to connect the experience of the current democratic movement to a larger one, the movement for socialism. We may not be there yet, but we will get there.

2010 was an election year which will be noted in the history books. I believe that 2014 too will be such a year.

Josh LeClair contributed information on labor's 2014 electoral effort to this article.

Photo: Students protest as Pennsylvania Governor Corbett visits Philadelphia November 2013.   Ben Sears/PA