“I wonder if that wasn’t a moment that’s gonna change American political history.”

That’s what "Hardball" host Chris Matthews said on MSNBC about a particularly moving moment during Tuesday night’s AFL-CIO Presidential Candidates Forum.

Steve Skvara, a disabled, retired steel worker from Indiana, lost his health care coverage and a third of his pension. Now he’s having trouble paying for his wife’s care, and he wonders how this could happen to a person like him.

“What’s wrong with America, and what will you do to change it?” he asked the candidates.

Watch the video here.

Many more great questions came from the large audience at Solider Field in Chicago.

But many of the questions came from e-activists like you.

Sen. Chris Dodd answered this one from “Patriot in Ohio”:

My 21-year-old daughter joined the Army Reserves after high school at the age of 19. She’s currently a sergeant in the Army and is serving her 10th month in Iraq. With all the billions of dollars being spent on the war, I want to know why my daughter was forced to buy some of her own required uniform and other gear the Army didn’t supply her.

A question from “Union Lifer” for Sen. Hillary Clinton:

How can you reassure people who have rightfully earned a pension that they earned a pension that they will be able to take advantage of that benefit without descending into poverty?

Sen. Clinton took another question via the web from Shirley, a member of IFT-AFT Local 1211, who wanted to know:

What specific changes to No Child Left Behind do you believe must be made?

Rep. Dennis Kucinich answered a question about health care from Diana from Cookeville, Tenn.:

We need health care for every citizen in the U.S.A. What can you do about this problem?

To watch video clips of the debate, click here. To read the full transcript, click here.  Full coverage of the forum by the AFL-CIO Now blog is here.

On Tuesday night, working men and women were the stars.

And as the 2008 election approaches, let’s work to keep it that way.

Visit the AFL-CIO blog for more information about the forum

Click here to watch the candidates' opening statement videos from the forum