Here's how a union strike could cost Clinton the election (and how Obama could save her)

A union strike could suppress voter turnout in a city critical to Hillary’s victory.

Philadelphia, PA—With a week to go in one of the nation’s ugliest presidential elections on record, the Transit Workers Union (TWU) in Philadelphia has decided to strike the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA).
This has got to be concerning to Hillary Clinton’s campaign since the union’s 4700 strikers are responsible for the public transportation in and around the City of Brotherly Love and their strike action has shut down buses, trolleys and subways that provide about 900,000 rides a day.
According to press accounts, the strike began after the TWU and SEPTA failed to reach a contract agreement over pension reform and health care.

Although Pennsylvania is not necessarily a “swing state” in the eyes of most, the reason it usually votes Democrat in presidential elections is primarily due to the reliably Democrat-controlled cities on either end of the state–Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
If one of those cities cannot produce the enough Clinton votes, the entire state could go to Clinton’s opponent, Donald Trump.
The reason is, because of Clinton’s heavy reliance on minority turnout in Philadelphia, if Philadelphia voters cannot get to the polls, there may be enough “bitter clingers” in the rest of the state to hand the state’s 20 electoral votes to Trump and, thus, the entire election if he is able to capture Florida and a few other swing states.

Not all is lost for Clinton (yet).

Although the strike is surely being watched carefully by the Clinton campaign right now, there is no need to panic…yet.
If the strike drags into the weekend, there are still two ways that Clinton can be saved.
The first (and most likely) way is that the TWU and SEPTA can settle the strike before next Tuesday.
The second way, which would be much more controversial, is if President Obama signs an executive order creating a presidential emergency board to end the strike for Clinton.
He has intervened before, as recently as 2014, when a union strike shut down SEPTA.
Of course, if Obama does intervene, it would likely draw immediate criticism from Trump supporters.
While it is too early too tell how long the strike will last, the longer it goes, more and more attention will be raised to it and the suspense going into next Tuesday will build.
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