The Obama strategy emphasizes down-ballot races
By Steve Benen Wednesday Jun 25, 2008 8:30amWe know quite a bit about the Obama campaign’s intention to “stretch” the map and compete in “red” states that a) Dems would be expected to skip; and b) the McCain campaign doesn’t want to have to fight for.
But Ben Smith went a little deeper and considers what this might mean for Dems further down on the ballot.
Barack Obama will focus his resources largely in 14 states George W. Bush won in 2004, his chief field operative said Tuesday, hoping to score upsets in places like Virginia, Indiana, and Georgia.
But winning the White House won’t be his only goal, deputy campaign manager Hildebrand told Politico: In an unusual move, Obama’s campaign will also devote some resources to states it’s unlikely to win, with the goal of influencing specific local contests in places like Texas and Wyoming.
“Texas is a great example where we might not be able to win the state, but we want to pay a lot of attention to it,” Hildebrand said. “It’s one of the most important redistricting opportunities in the country.”
That’s a good point. You may recall Tom DeLay’s painful re-redistricting scheme, the result of which was five new Republican seats in the U.S. House. After the 2010 census, it’ll be time to draw those lines again, and if the Obama campaign can help strengthen the party at the state level, the efforts will pay dividends in the long run.
It’s not just Texas. Ben also noted a competitive House race in Wyoming, where Gary Trauner is running for the state’s lone U.S. House seat. He was narrowly defeated two years ago, but hopes the rematch will turn out better.
Is Obama going to win Wyoming? Almost certainly not, but when he invests campaign resources in the state anyway, he not only raises eyebrows at McCain HQ, he also gives candidates like Trauner a better shot at victory.
“If we can register more Democrats, if we can increase the Democratic performance and turnout, maybe we can pick up a congressional seat,” Hildebrand said.
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Plus he is telling the red state people that they matter to democrats. They might welcome that, especially this year.
Obama's really showing some smarts - nothing helps a President more than a bunch of Congresscritters that owe that President a big favor.
Third. Bravo!
it's good they are hitting back. but what are they offering these people that they can believe in? what will be the follow-up if the dems win something: more pelosi and reid? to rebuild a party base just to offer more republican-lite will be a disaster.
pissed off patricia @ 1:
they certainly ought to know by now that the repugs would not piss on their faces if their hair were on fire.
BaScOmBe hearts Lara Logan @ 5:
It's always nice to extend a hand to the red state folks who are probably feeling sort of blue with the candidate they have been handed by the republicans. Make McCain work a little too. Show him that the bright red states can't be taken for granted.
Wow, imagine that, Democrats develop an actual strategy. If they can pull it off, and grow a set, this country just might be able to be saved.
Those are two very long shots, so I won't be holding my breath.
Well, not that anyone actually lives in Wyoming...
(It had to be said.. and yes it IS the least-populous state)
Good to see that some of that money Obama has raised going into states like these.
Yeah! Now we can have sell-outs at the local, state and federal level!
Yippee!
I want my Constitution back!
nanderson @ 10:
If no one is good enough for you, then run for office.
I can't see brandishing people you don't know as sellouts...
nanderson @ 10:
Yeah, no kidding, just because Bushie and his cronies are republican doesn't mean that democrats are some kind of ethical superheroes. I'm expecting more wars, more corporate bailouts, and more bootstrapping no matter who is in office.
TM @ 11:
Ordinary people cannot afford to run for office. Therefore everyone who does run for office is a sellout.
I wonder if the Obama campaign knows about how the census is being screwed. This could put a damper on any of their plans for redistricting.
You know, I'm feeling less excited about Obama after he voted for cloture on that FISA bill. Of course he's better than McCain but, then again, so am I. I'm not sure if "Change You Can Believe In" is something I can really feel confidant about with Obama. He seems to be of the Nancy Pelosi School of Not-Really-Progressive Politics. Sorry to be a pill about it all, but I haven't had my morning coffee yet.
Isn't it nice to have a candidate with book brains, street smarts, common sense and a big set of brass cahones?
Isn't it nice to have a candidate who seems a little (or a lot) ahead of the game, instead of playing perpetual catch-up to the Lee Atwater-Karl Rove-Charlie Black smear machine?
Oh, you mean go all out, give it your all, unlike previous Democratic candidates. This is so refreshing to hear.
TM @ 11:
Um, I don't think that's what "brandish" means.
Not a problem for Republicans. All a Republican need do is re-register as a Democrat then join the rest of the Blue Dogs. George (Carlin) was right , we're royally screwed.
I'll vote for Obama but I'll not get emotionally attached. This past week has dampened my enthusiasm in regards to Obamas FISA and death penalty statements not to mention his two stepping campaign finance .
Change, what changed, those were standard politically motivated statements to please the Washington pundits.
Red state concern?
Never mind the fallacy behind the notion of “red/blue” states. Obama, in his rush to be all things to all people, is losing support quickly among a certain segment of his previous supporters.
With his waffling and backpedaling on NAFTA criticisms, with his “I’m a pro-free market type of guy” rhetoric, with his position on voting for the much hated FISA appeasement bill, with his support of the death penalty for non-lethal crimes, etc. he has shown that he is not what some hoped he would be.
Maybe it is smart for obama to pose more and more as a GOP-lite centrist, maybe the political gurus think this is what it takes for him to be 100% viable. I think they are, not only wrong, they are falling into the kerry 04 and gore 00 trap.
I went from a sure fire obama supporter to being undecided. The more obama veers to the right, the more I wonder if it was a mistake to hold him up as anything different from the succession of DLC/corporate dems we have seen lead the party to failure for decades.
Honestly it's this that should make all of us concerned, and unless presidential contenders acknowledge it, they will likely be a 1 term president.
Triple warnings this past week: the Royal Bank of Scotland fears a steep fall in the world stock market; the bank of all banks in the world, the BIS, Bank of International Settlements, in Switzerland, said that a worldwide depression is now a distinct possibility; Morgan Stanley, a leading American Investment firm, signaled similar pessimistic messages.
So what's happening out there? Frankly, all financial institutions are in deep trouble, and the reason is the American dollar. The situation is so dire that it's not going to make a hoot of difference who becomes the next president of the United States: it's beyond the power of the rulers of the American political and economic system to curtail severe damage to its entire economic enterprise. Neither Obama nor McCain can do anything to stem the disaster that will be fully employed by the end of this year.
www.intelligencer.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1087226
www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/06/25/cncredit125.xml
Hooray, more Democrats to impersonate Republicans!
Alexdem @ 8:
It gives each Wyoming voter greater access to their members of congress, doesn't it?
Wyoming along with (in descending order) Vermont, North Dakota, Alaska, South Dakota, Delaware and Montana, has only one member of the House of Represenatives and two Senators. Thus the Senators and Represenatives in each of those seven states represent the same number of people.
The information provided above is factual, like the Bush administration, and of about the same usefullness as the administration.
c. atrox @ 15:
Democratic Voters: "You can't give the telecoms immunity!"
Obama: "YES WE CAN!"
Geraldo @ 24:
ya know, when i first heard 'yes we can', si se peude, it reminded me of the bolivian 2002 presidential race. in that race, the neoliberal candidate (ie, the pro-corporate, anti-democracy) was being supported by the top-shelf democratic strategists. they were paid to come down to bolivia and lend their orwellian talents to help the much maligned and distrusted Gonzalo "Goni" Sanchez de Lozada win the presidential election. the cabal of shrum, devine, rosner, carville, etc. helped craft a deceptive campaign strategy aimed at discrediting the very inspiring evo morales and the other candidate reyes villa, thru lies, spin and money.
the motto that was used by goni's campaign was 'si se peuede'
i am starting to have flashbacks.
Getting the GOP out of DC is clearly an important goal; however, I thought that an Obama victory in November would be the beginning of true change in DC rather than a mere reversion to a more sensible but still bad state. With his support for the FISA bill which tries to grant a small amount of unconstitutional, totalitarian powers to the executive branch, Obama has shown his true colors: if someone shouts "Boo!" the constitution can be wadded up like a waste scrap of paper and tossed in the wastebasket. And to add insult to injury, Obama says we should just trust him to make sure that these powers are not misused (as they surely will be): that is the tried and true opening gambit of all dictators. Shame on Obama—if he actually has any!
it appears to be a good strategy by obama's team.....i'm sure he realizes....he needs to focus on ohio,pennsylvania,michigan and nevada......get hillary in ohio and pennsylvania......this race has potential to be close and i personally don't like that
Geraldo @ 24:
No kidding. I know a lot of people are going to be in a rush to forgive Obama and other Dems on the FISA sell-out (after all, McCain said something stupid today), but I'm not one of them. After watching 7+ years of Bush criminality, I'm sickened that so many Democrats have joined forces to give him a get out of jail free card (and further weakening the 4th Amendment is just an added bonus, I guess). Obama has gone from being someone I would have been proud to vote for, to being the hold-my-nose lesser-of-two-evils candidate. Pity.
karl @ 27:
yet, his backtrack on NAFTA criticism makes it less likely that he will do well in the states you listed.
his best strategy is not to appear more GOP-esque. he should know this. his advisors should know this. yet, look at what he does.
Samson- @ 29:
there is a conservative mentality in this country right now......i believe this is a strategy to resemble his opponents philosophy to be centered in the populist spectrum.....maybe the gop has pushed him into that strategy i'm not sure.....maybe they have made this contest close.....the gop has done such a good job of trashy the word liberal....the country does have a slight conservative feel to it maybe because of the war/occupation and/or the economy. there are a lot of variables........he could lose the votes of people who can't or don't recognize this possible strategy.
Good fpr Obama. I think it's a grand strategy. It's one that I personally like as I will be voting Democratic all the way down the ticket except the slot for president which I will leave blank. Maybe I'll vote for Nader. Obama's chickenshit moves over the FISA bill make me sick.
displaced @ 12:
Come on! The only way things can get worse with the next Administration amps up the whole invasion of civil liberties theme that the Bush Administration has going while nuking whichever country would be included in a newly revised Axis of Evil.
In other words, while things could get much, much worse, under a Democratic administration but it probably won't. The things that you are complaining about are there no matter what government you look at–or will be for that matter–it's just a matter of degrees.
Besides I am hoping that we're bottoming out with the Bush Administration, and things can only get better.
I have lived in Texas all of my life and I can honestly say that the state is not as RED as conventional wisdom states. In fact at the Progressive Roundtable in 2006 I told the group that Texas would be BLUE by 2008, of course they laughed off my prediction. Well it's 2008 and Texas is in play. The Obama campaign will compete for votes and intends to help down ballot races, however despite their expectations to not carry Texas they will be victorious here if they make the effort to WIN not just PLACE or SHOW. Texas has been at the core of the neocon, Republican movement for the last 28 years and their run is nearly over. The resurgence of Progressives and the Democratic Party will become evident in November, as Texas has changed greatly over the last 7 years and the allegiance to the GOP has worn thin. Additionally Progressives and Democrats are being received better by the voting public due largely in part to the incompetence and morass created by the neocon-driven GOP. This FISA mess and Obama's apparent misstep seems to be a political calculation to move to the center, to the dismay of Progressives and lovers of freedom and justice. However we must not lose sight of the fact that this is an election year and elected officials act peculiarly during the election cycle. My guess is that Obama's Senate vote is rooted in his desire to not be perceived as not understanding the sensitive nature of intelligence gathering in times of war/invasion-occupation. Living in Texas, in the midst of hyper-neoconservatism Republicanism, you see a lot political and sometimes ethical, contortions made by Progressives to get elected. Politics not only makes strange bedfellows, but often soils the sheets. Obama and down ballot Democrats will win in November, and it will be messy, we might have to sleep in the wet spot...
It is fitting for Obama to focus on the GOP vote as it turn out that he too think the constitution is just a piece of paper. When a president take office, they are sworn to protect the constitution, and if a senator can't do that now, then what makes you think he will when he become president?
Obama lost my vote!
Here what gets me! I have been watching Obama with much distrust from the beginning, with his persuasive speeches. Then he started to use stronger language of how he was against FISA back in April, and that he would not vote for it, and then he said he would look at all of George Bush signing statement and overturn them and look into unlawful action and pursue justice. That was before he was nominated as the Democratic candidate, and now that he is a sure thing, he betray the people with false promise. Just like what Bush did when he became president.
Don't be fool thinking that Obama is going to be much better than McCain (although that may be true) because of his party affiliation. There is always the Green party or Nader.
Obama gave a speech that he would not support FISA with Immunity back in April, and then he would support it a week ago. How blatant of a liar can you be? I can not vote for that! I can not vote for him thinking he is the lessor evil, when I have no idea who I am voting for! He is a big liar! I can't vote for McCain for the same reason.
well I understand there are people angry at Sen. Obama, count me as one about the FISA, but I am looking at the larger picture,the scotus, if everyone is so angry at the telecom and want punish him then change your carriers that will hit them where it really hurt, but we can't take our eye off the prize.
Hey, as long as the Democrats can win a couple more seats through redistricting, who cares about the 4th Amendment . . .
Having lived in wonderful Wyoming for almost all of my life, watching election day returns is always painful. The times they are a changing. The western half of the state could be called "purple." With several large counties voting Democrat in the last 2 general elections. It was a heartbreak watching Gary Trauner losing the lone seat in the house of Representatives to the 7 term, do absolutely NOTHING Barbara Cubin by a mere 1000 votes! I know that we can't contribute much to the electoral college vote with only 3 votes, but we Democrats here are sick to death of Republican rule. There is an energy & excitement in this state with the Democratic party that I've never seen before in the 30 years since I've been of age to vote.
Oh & did I mention, we are embarrassed to death that the Vice President of the United States claims Wyoming as his home.
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