Organized Labor Sets Course for Election ORLANDO, Fla. - As the A.F.L.-C.I.O."s winter meeting opened here on Tuesday, its political director mapped out organized labor's plans for the 2012 campaign and how unions will respond to what he says will be $500 million in "super PAC" ads backing Republicans. The political director, Michael Podhorzer, said this election would be unlike any other. "The elections in 2012 and this decade wouldn't be recognizable to Bill Clinton or even George Bush - everything has changed," Mr. Podhorzer said at a news briefing. The money coming in already is unprecedented, and it provides even greater power to the voice of the affluent. Calling organized labor, "the original social network," Mr. Podhorzer said the federation's 57 member unions hoped to respond to the super PACs by mobilizing 400,000 workers to knock on doors and make phone calls to spread a pro-Obama message. The A.F.L.-C.I.O."s executive council was expected to formally endorse President Obama at a 3:30 p.m. news conference on Tuesday. "We have this complete disconnect in our politics, which is dominated more than ever by the affluent, while there is an economic crisis that has nearly half the population in jeopardy," Mr. Podhorzer said. At the news briefing, he showed a broadcast spot attacking Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic candidate for Senate in Massachusetts, that was sponsored by Crossroads GPS, a super PAC started with help from the strategist Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's top political adviser. The ad accused Ms. Warren of being cozy with the nation's banks in supporting the financial bailout and bankers" bonuses. Mr. Podhorzer said the federation of labor unions hoped to train tens of thousands of activists to go door-to-door so they can discuss the issues with their neighbors - and perhaps explain what they see as inaccuracies in such ads. Ms. Warren is known as a fierce critic of the big banks, many of which are vigorously opposing her candidacy. "You can run that ad against Elizabeth Warren 100 times, but if someone you know knows what's wrong with it and tells you, the impact goes away," Mr. Podhorzer said. He said the A.F.L.-C.I.O. hoped to provide its volunteers "with the tools and the training to be in communities so that they can spread the truth beyond the workplace to the neighborhoods, to the Elks Club, to the gun club, to the churches. Everywhere. Steven Law, chief executive of American Crossroads, a political nonprofit that Mr. Rove also helped found, disputed the labor leader's take on President Obama and Ms. Warren, but he acknowledged organized labor's political clout. "In the last four or five election cycles, they've become extremely sophisticated at deploying boots to the ground," he said. "Groups like us, we don't have millions of members that we can readily deploy," he added. We tend to be more active on the airwaves. Some union leaders have expressed increased optimism in recent days about the Democrats" chances of retaining control of the Senate, helped by the decision of Senator Olympia J. Snowe, a Maine Republican, not to run for re-election. But Mr. Podhorzer voiced concern about several especially labor-friendly Democrats who are up for re-election in the Senate. He said that if those candidates lost - he mentioned, in particular, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan - that would greatly set back labor's cause in Congress. "If they're replaced that will spell six years of a very antiworker sentiment," he said. He also voiced concern that three Democratic governors who have helped block antiunion legislation would be stepping down: Brian Schweitzer of Montana (term-limited), and John Lynch of New Hampshire and Christine Gregoire of Washington State (both retiring). He said that if Republicans won in those states and also defeated Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri, a Democrat, that could open the doors to antiunion laws in those states, like the ones passed in Wisconsin. Mr. Podhorzer said that the A.F.L.-C.I.O., in seeking to be more independent of the Democratic Party, has begun building a permanent political structure in six swing states: Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Organized labor already has a large presence in each of those states, but this new structure will focus on year-round mobilization around issues as well as political work at crucial times. This year, Mr. Podhorzer said, unions will also have sizable political operations in two dozen other states, including Maine, North Dakota and Washington. "When we get past the Republicans" throwing dust in each other's eyes and they focus on Obama, this is going to be a serious race," Mr. Podhorzer said.