We agree with the National Association of Manufacturers.  Perhaps if Mickey Kaus had moderated a debate, someone might have had the courage to ask a single question about one of the worst special-interest payback efforts in recent electoral history: the Employee Free Choice Act.  Alas, the unfortunate bill was not mentioned once during the debates.

At what peril?  Mr. Kaus writes in his kausfiles column at Slate:

Obama's Fast Labor Payoff: kf hears from a trustworthy
non-Republican source (with access to actual insider information) that
the Dems are getting set to pass "card check" legislation fast
next year, right out of the box, assuming Obama wins and the Democrats get their
expected big Senate majority. The legislation--which would eliminate
the secret ballot in union organizing elections, allowing union organizers to
gather signed cards person-to-person--is cheap, in budgetary terms. And it's
very, very important to organized labor. ...Obama's political history
suggests he's not a "fight the power" kind of guy. He's an "accommodate the
power" kind of guy. It's highly plausible that he'd be willing to pay
off this debt to Big Labor up front if they push him hard enough. ... Since I
think "card check" legislation is a potential near-disaster economically (unions
are engines of adversarial bureaucracy and the mainspring of the wage-price
spiral) and procedurally (the secret ballot certainly seems like a key way to
avoid intimidation) this is not good news. ... P.S.: Would it
be a good move for Obama? Bill Clinton got into trouble, right after he took
office, when in the middle of a troubled economic situation his first priority
seemed to be gays-in-the-military. Obama likewise risks having it look like his
first priority isn't helping the average citizen but helping a key Democratic
interest group. ... In Clinton's case,, that damaging first impression was maybe
unfair (the gays issue just happened fo flare up). In Obama's case it won't be.
...[Thought you were pro-Obama--ed Yes. But I am, as they say,
concerned!  Not scheduled to enter full pro-Obama BS mode for at
least two more weeks.]

Those who see EFCA's many flaws for what they are, and/or who hope for a more reasoned policy-based approach to labor law reform, better brace themselves and keep an eye on those Senate races....