Groups reveal campaign considerations

WASHINGTON, March 19 (UPI) -- Labor unions and activist groups said they will spend more than $400 million to help elect Democratic U.S. congressional and presidential candidates.

The separate efforts will focus on identifying and registering Democratic voters, as well as getting them to the polls, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

The AFL-CIO and other large national labor unions said they'll spend about $300 million. The liberal MoveOn.org said it would spend $30 million, while several smaller organizations said they would use tens of millions of dollars to register low-income, minority and younger voters, the Journal said.

Other groups -- ranging from abortion-rights advocacy groups to environmental protectionists -- said they will spend about another $100 million combined.

U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the presumptive GOP nominee for president, has raised considerably less money than either of his two Democratic rivals, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. But the Republican National Committee said it expects to spend millions of dollars on McCain's behalf, as will other groups that generally support Republican candidates.