To the Editor:

Re “Three Lessons for Winning in November and Beyond” (Op-Ed, nytimes.com, Oct. 10):

Three cheers for Jane McAlevey’s article about how union organizers combat the tactics used by companies hostile to unions without getting into the gutter to join them. It’s time the Democrats realized that today’s Republican Party is not their father’s genteel G.O.P.

Republican leaders no longer seem to be interested in reaching across the aisle and working together; they’re more like a bunch of no-holds-barred, down-and-dirty mercenaries, ready to do the bidding of whoever will keep them in office.

Until now, it seems as if the Democrats have been bringing a harmonica to a knife fight.

Joanne Scutero

Hawthorne, N.Y.