First off, nobody ever got clobbered and that's why the GL had to violate every rule. In the last two elections that I ran as a candidate, both times it was razor close and I always finished higher than most on my slate. Lost by less than 200 votes in 2014 with 48% of the vote, and lost by 300 votes in 2015. The closest margins ever when a non incumbent wasn't on the slate. In this election, there was no election yet, however we targeted the bigger locals and won them. I was more credible to Boeing than Mr Martinez. I was more credible to Local 839 (Biggest Midwestern Local) than Mr Martinez. In the airlines, we kept it close but DL142 had Martinez pull ahead but only with the mass cooperation of United Airlines. That avenue will be eliminated in the election as United has already had conference calls over the matter and will be given a "Heads up" by the DOL.
That said, when the DOL does a rerun of a supervised election, they usually pound the international union by taking more controls away from them to even the playing field even greater. With an even playing field, we will almost certainly win. The alternative, i.e., if the democratic threshold for having an election isn't crossed, then other options will have to be considered, including working outside the shell of the IAM. No conspiracy either. 2 hour voting is anti union. The only conspiracy was created by the establishment that said the 2 hour voting was a DOL thing. Obviously, that is 100% ridiculous.
