From KCRW in Santa Monica and PRI, Public Radio International, this is To the Point.

Labor Day and the Democratic Party.

Hello again, I'm Mormon Alney, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International

in Charlotte, North Carolina for the Democratic National Convention.

We won't be buying skyboxes, hosting events, or bringing a big staff contingent to the convention,

says Richard Trumka, president of the AFLCIO.

North Carolina is a right-to-work state.

Are the Democrats turning their backs on a historic support group?

Does organized labor still matter?

We'll hear from labor leaders and others, including Occupy Protesters in America's second

largest financial center after New York.

Charlotte's also a city deeply involved in the civil rights movement and integration.

Why is it so hard for America's first black president to talk about the racial tensions that still exist four years after he was elected?

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from the members of KCRW and from the Public Radio International Program Fund.

Hello again, Warren Alney, back with To the Point in Charlotte, North Carolina,

where the Democratic National Convention gets underway tomorrow. We'll be talking today about the

party's unsettled relations with organized labor and about the issue of race since the election

of America's first black president. First, this news update has been several days since the

gavel fell on the Republican National Convention in Tampa.

Did the convention did the speech give Mitt Romney what political pros call a bounce in the opinions of likely voters.

Here's Frank Newport. He's editor-in-chief of the Gallup poll.

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