Senior union leaders from the Change to Win federation of labor outlined a $350 billion plan to revitalize the economy in the wake of the financial meltdown in a conference call this afternoon.

The federation’s bottom line is that whatever Washington does to bail out Wall Street has to be accompanied by support for ordinary people.

As the US financial system totters on the brink of collapse, serious and responsible people are asking: How will this help Republicans?

That financial armegeddon will help the GOP is axiomatic. Everything does. For you skeptics, I’m including an severely abbreviated list of things that are known to help Republicans: terrorism, lack of terrorism, strong Democrats, weak Democrats, domestic spying, MoveOn, gay marriage, expensive gas, snowmobiles, Hillary Clinton, and rain.

One can understand why he is trying to change his tune. With the economy having become the #1 issue to Americans, admitting you don’t understand it is probably not the wisest course of action. But, no matter how he spins it, he said what he said.

As they say, timing is everything, and the Obama people could not have planned this tour at a better time. With gas prices now averaging above $4 a gallon for the first time, and unemployment jumping from 5% to 5.5% this past month, hitting the heartland with an economic message of change would seem to be a good move.

There has been so much talk about whether Obama can win my home

Wow, when unemployment jumps from 5 to 5.5% in a month, you might think Bushenomics/McCainenomics isn’t working.

Don’t worry though, it will all trickle down by 2083.

In any case, combine this with ridiculous gas prices, job cuts (Continental is the latest to shed jobs), healthcare concerns, and well, McCain may want to look beyond Phil Gramm for economic advice.