I know it's been a long day, and you've been listening to a lot of speeches. So, I'm going to keep it short.              

First off, I guess I should congratulate you on Virginia's new Number 1 ranking. Did you hear the Poleena Corporate rankings list you as the Number 1 pro-business state in America?  Yes, that's the Poleena Corporate rankings, and they say you're the #1 pro-business state in America, based on 31 factors.  

Have you read what goes into those rankings? It has little to do with business. It has more to do with how badly workers are treated. A top category is right-to-work-for-less legislation.  

In fact, everything you spend your days and nights fighting against makes their top 10 list!  Nice, low wages – that makes the list.  Low unemployment benefits and workers' compensation are right up there too.    

You know, our opponents try to pit working people against business, but that's wrong.  

I'm proud of the fact that America has a strong entrepreneurial spirit but some think that means business and workers can't thrive together. I say it's the opposite – we can thrive together. Does that surprise you? Coming from the Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO? It shouldn't. Labor isn't anti-business. And being anti-worker is not being pro-business. Those misconceptions have to end. That's something that's on us: educating our friends as well as our opponents about who we really are and that no one has to be anti-worker to be pro-business.  

In the union movement, we believe that being pro-worker really is pro-business. We believe our society does well when those who create our wealth have a voice, and can win a share of that wealth. We believe that when working families rise, that's the tide that lifts all boats -- including the business boats!  

Is anyone here a fan of the TV Show Mad Men on AMC? If you haven't seen it, it's a TV drama about the advertising world on Madison Avenue in the 1960s before our workplaces evolved. The other night, I was thinking about the show's underlying – never-mentioned but ever-present – economic message: It's about growth and shared prosperity.  

I'm talking about what Don Draper and Peggy and the rest sell, and who they sell to.  

Whether it's lipstick, cameras, televisions or cars, their ad campaigns sell American goods to American families, who are building wealth and a better standard of living by manufacturing those same goods.  

If you think about it, Mad Men – the whole show – is about what happens when regular, working people win a larger share of the economic pie.  

We don't want the 1960s back—but we're going to win that pie back.  

And we're going to win it by working for good jobs and through Labor 2010 for the candidates who will deliver those jobs!  

It's been a long time since America's workers built the things we buy, and that hurts. That's a root cause of the hard times we're in. Working families are hurting.  

So people are frustrated.  It's no secret that 2010 is the year of the angry American. We've been seeing it in the Gulf Coast, in the right-wing madness. We can see it in the hateful anti-immigration law in Arizona. You're going to get a lot more of it than you want when the Tea Party holds its convention in Richmond in October – surprised it's not in Williamsburg – You've got a Secretary of State in Virginia who's been calling health care reform unconstitutional. It might be funny if it weren't so frightening.  

I understand the anger. It makes sense to be frustrated and angry. Our opponents in Virginia have been touting the 81,000 new jobs here, as if the economic problems here have been fixed. Well, you know better than I do that a return to our so-called prosperity before the recession is no victory.    

People have been treading water for a long time, and their noses are going under. It's scary. People lack security. And there may be new jobs in Virginia, but there are layoffs, too.  

Losing a job is hard -- it's hard on a family. I don't care how even-tempered you are, it's tough! We're talking about people losing homes. Their savings. Their retirement security. Their dreams.  They've lost everything we thought America was about. Everyone here knows someone who is unemployed.  

Fifteen million Americans who want to work can't find work. Half have been jobless for more than six months. That's a crisis. And we don't sit back and watch a crisis. We drop what we're doing, and we fix it.  

That's why we will never, never stop working for jobs! Neither will you!  

And that's not all. We're going to work to make sure those jobs are good jobs.  

Now, I know that you're fired up for casino night tonight, and for Jim's retirement celebration tomorrow, but I'm asking you to get even more fired up for the elections this fall.  

You've got some serious work to do here in Virginia, the kind of nuts-and-bolts stuff that makes a real difference in people's lives. I know you're working toward the day when you can win bargaining rights for public employees. And that's just a start.  

The national strategists in Washington might not place Virginia in the battleground column, but that doesn't mean your political work here isn't important. It is crucially important.  

We're faced with stark choices. Nationally, right here in Virginia, in your congressional districts, and in your state house races.  

The outcome is not a slam dunk.  It's going to come down to you.  

A few years ago, I couldn't say no to doors – so I went out and I walked door-to-door in the Tidewater Area. It was hard. I mean, it was great talking to Virginians, but you know what I'm saying. When I was hungry, I barely had time to grab a greasy piece of pizza. I'm not complaining. What I'm saying is – and you know this already – that's what it takes.  

You've done great work in Virginia. In 2006, of your 11 congressional seats, only three were held by Democrats. Today, you have six. And some of them are true champions of working families. A few years ago, we had two opponents from Virginia in the U.S. senate. Today, we have two friends.  

And in 2008, for the first time in 44 years, you gave Virginia's electoral votes to a Democrat -- President Barack Obama!  

Let's talk for a minute about the Obama administration. Some people are disappointed because we haven't been able to get everything we wanted. But the facts are that without the Obama recovery plan, we'd be in a full-blown depression.   

Let's not forget that the Obama administration has already created more jobs -- even in this weak recovery -- than were created during the entire 8 years of George W. Bush.  Let's not forget about Wall Street reform, and the strong steps to bolster manufacturing -- turning around the U.S. auto industry, imposing trade sanctions against China for imported tires, taking executive action to reverse the Bush ban on PLAs and prohibit the federal contractors from using funds to block union organizing, passing the Lilly Ledbetter fair pay act, changing the long-standing unfair union organizing rules at the National Mediation Board to majority vote for airline, rail and other transportation employees, and putting worker-friendly appointees at the National Labor Relations Board, the Department of Labor and so many other pivotal federal agencies.   

Every time the Obama administration has proposed jobs legislation, it's been blocked by stealth maneuvers from the most politically motivated Republican minority we have ever seen.  How about that Senate? Filibuster has been used over 100 times in the last year and a half – we need filibuster reform. But let's not forget where the blame lies. Let's not forget how much we've won because we elected Barack Obama.  

Now, here in Virginia, it's time for you to shore up your victories in your state senate, fight for gains in your state house, and defend your best representatives in the U.S. Congress, because Tom Perriello is worth fighting for – nobody has been a better friend to working families, taken more hard votes, or been more solid.

Rick Boucher is a champion worth fighting for; Doris knows and is being targeted by the energy companies.  

And go to the mat for Gerry Connolly, who has been amazing on Employee Free Choice Act!  

So here's my ask of you:  Commit right now to do even more of what you do best.  Pull out all the stops.  Keep lifting up your champions.  Virginia needs leaders who will be steadfast friends to workers, friends to families, leaders who will fight for good jobs in Virginia.  

Big Business is going to spend a lot of money to defeat your champions.  

From coast to coast, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has pledged to spend upwards of $300 million to stop our progress. It's not hard to guess their playbook. They think if they can confuse us with a blame game, frustrate us with Washington gridlock, keep us angry at immigrants and each other, that we won't come to the polls. We'll sit home and, what? Cry, I guess.  

Let me tell you the truth. They don't want you. They don't want the union vote.  

Are you going to stay home? I don't think so.  

You and I both know what it's going to take to win elections here in Virginia, and across the country: what we do best—what you do best—and that's putting boots on the ground all over this state, and that's what it's going to take.  Talk to your co-workers.  Talk to your neighbors.  They need to hear what the stakes really are from somebody they trust.     

Keep at it.  And never for a minute forget why we're doing it all, how important it is, how high the stakes are for working people, for our children and for America's future.  

On October 2, I hope you will also put boots on the ground in Washington, D.C., for the massive One Nation march and rally for good jobs and an economy that works for all. As a part of our overall Labor 2010 effort, the AFL-CIO joined One Nation Working Together, a new national coalition that includes our unions and important allies in civil and human rights, faith, environmental and other groups. It represents people of all races, creeds and faiths who have come together to pull America back together and put America back to work.  

On October 2, we'll turn out union members from the Northeast and Middle Atlantic states. And on the same day, the labor movement will be walking door-to-door in targeted states around the country, bringing the same message to union members. On your table is more information on One Nation and we'll be getting more material in the next few weeks.  

We're going to be hard core about politics, but what we're doing isn't really for any candidate, or any political party.  

What we're working for is jobs—jobs and the future.

I believe that working together, standing together, we can restore hope for all of the American people, restore the promise of America, and restore American prosperity.  

Do you believe that keeping jobs here in this country matters? Do you believe we need to create new jobs with rising wages, stable benefits and promising futures? Do you believe in returning America to a country that makes things again?  

Well then, you've got to work for it.  

Sisters and brothers, if you believe that America must invest in transportation and technology, education and the environment, you've got to work for it.   If you believe in a day when Virginia workers and businesses thrive together, work for it.  

If you believe it's worth keeping thousands of teachers in classrooms and police on the beat instead of among the ranks of the unemployed, work for it.  

If you believe that Wall Street got us into this mess and now must pay its fair share of the costs to get us out, work for it.  

Work for it. Stand together. And we'll win together—in November and beyond, and I can't wait to be there fighting with you.  

Thank you.