From an article entitled Labor's Political Prowess Grows Despite Hefty Union Job Losses, Investor's Business Daily 2/20/07:

"The thing is that even as their power has declined, their strategies have gotten more sophisticated," [Steven Malanga, a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute and author of "The New New Left," a study of labor's new tactics] said. "They have learned how to marshal their numbers in specific ways in specific states."

One thing Big Labor is doing is "thinking more strategically," said Ivan Osorio, labor policy analyst at the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute. "And in those sectors where they do fight, they are much more aggressive."

In prior decades, unions could count on sheer numbers for clout. As membership has declined, unions have adopted tactics used by smaller interest groups.

Unions now engage on multiple fronts using targeted campaign donations, get-out-the-vote efforts and sophisticated media campaigns. They also forge alliances with other groups, such as greens.

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To that end, Big Labor gave $49.4 million to candidates in 2006, 86% of which went to Democrats, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.