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Report: Obama's Rural Outreach More Aggressive Than Past Dems
An interesting factoid buried in this Associated Press article:
Recognizing an opportunity, Obama has opened more offices in rural areas than any other Democratic presidential candidate in years, pushing a message focused on job creation.
The fact that Obama has opened up more offices in rural areas than many past Dems could partly reflect how well funded he is, as well as his broader 49-state strategy. But it's noteworthy in light of everything we keep reading about his alleged troubles with these voters.
Indeed, AP says Obama has an opportunity here. While Bush carried 60% of the rural vote in 2004, an AP poll in June found that McCain isn't doing as well, winning rural voters over Obama 40%-34% (also suggesting a large undecided bloc there).
Anyway, the story of Obama's rural outreach seems worth fleshing out. We'll bring you more when we get it.
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Sorry I seem to have missed it, but which state is omitted from the "49-state" strategy? (Certainly there are a handful where his operation's influence will be negligible, so why is one singled out as estata non grata? )
August 18, 2008 2:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
The 50th state is Arkansas. The only state where Obama doesn't have a campaign office in.
August 18, 2008 2:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Arkansas
August 18, 2008 2:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm assuming that will change at some point. He should camp Hillary and Bill out down there.
August 18, 2008 2:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nah, then he would surely lose arkansas and they would get all kinds of media attention, with mr. bill spouting off how obama really isn't ready to be president. I say ship them to timbuktu to campaign for the american overseas vote. There has to be one aid worker there. They can persuade that aid worker on the 2012 clinton strategy until november. Also, no media. Now that's a winning strategy with the clintons.
August 18, 2008 2:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why hasn't McCain responded to this by immediately constructing just as many offices as Obama? Clearly McCain doesn't know how to run a campaign and is getting destroyed by the Democratic Ground Game Machine. Thank god there's still time for delegates to switch to Romney in Minneapolis!
August 18, 2008 2:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOL!
August 18, 2008 2:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
If Republicans really wanted to win, they'd follow Democrats' lead by immediately closing the 'field office gap' with whatever funds McCain has left.
/concern
August 18, 2008 2:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Quite frankly, I would rather see a national campaign strategy designed to reach the 80% of the population that are low information voters. Sound bites are the way to go and the obama team hasn't come up with any. Too much nuance. The general is different from the primaries and there are alot of people that aren't going to get the nuance and personal persuasion that worked in the primaries.
Define mcbush and come up with some priceless soundbites.
August 18, 2008 2:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is a loser strategy for Democrats. Obama will stay with the winning strategy.
August 18, 2008 2:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't find your comment very well informed.
Dairy farmers now have high milk prices, but fuel costs are killing them. Most crops are severely impacted by fuel costs -- and that's only one aspect of the rural economy.
Farmers know more about global warming than, say, Sen Inhofe, because farmers have to pay attention to weather. They see the changes before most voters who live in suburbs, and weather patterns have a huge impact on farm production.
The people who grow the food that you and I eat have been burning through equity now for years, and the best news for many has been biofuel -- the chance to get in on some money from ag-based fuels.
I'm not talking about ConAgra, but about farm families -- and there are still a few tough ones left, though you wouldn't know it to hear the politicians.
On many issues, farm families have been treated like trash by the same BushCheney administration that failed to regulate banking, mortgages, and many other features of American life. So the Beltway crowd and BushCheney (and idiots in Congress) now expects potato farmers and dairy families to join the rest of us in paying off criminals like Bear Stearns...?
Yeah, right.
Farmers and ag producers aren't stupid.
It's about time the Dems started paying attention to rural America. Some of those farm families are the finest people you could ever hope to meet.
August 18, 2008 3:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
II objected to a national ad strategy and agree with opening campaign offices in small town and rural areas--where probably a Democratic campaign office has not existed in recent memory.
Are you disagreeing with me?
August 18, 2008 7:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama is letting a 71 year old suffering from dimensia run rings around him.
I'm starting to believe that Obama is inviting defeat. He's the third or fourth iteration of Democratic candidates trying not to offend conservatives for the sake of inclusion. Back before he moved to the center he had bigger %s. He's on his way to losing this election the way so many democrats have lost before: afraid to call out the republicans for their long list of failures.
The democratic party doesn't know how to play politics. They are the Washington Generals and the republican party is the Harlem Globtrotters - except the Republican's don't know how to govern. So the nation is doomed to an inevitable collapse. Sometime in the next 8 to 16 years.
August 18, 2008 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
You forgot to mention that the sky is falling. Jesus, Tim. Be thorough.
August 18, 2008 3:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rural offices = It's the economy Stupid. Also it will insulate him to future "Bitter" attacks, saying while McCain is making silly attacks, I'm opening field offices, while Sen. McCain wants to give tax breaks to the rich, I want to give tax breaks to anybody making under $150,000 a year, while John McCain is calling me an elitist, he's choosing from which of his 10 homes to spend the night in.
August 18, 2008 2:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd love to see a really good short ad to that effect. 20 seconds of sneering nasty ("No wonder John McCain always seems confused...He's too busy deciding which of his 10 houses to fly to in his wife's private jet!") and 10 seconds of inspirational nice ("Barack Obama shares the concerns of hard-working Americans just trying to make ends meet") followed by Barack saying, "I'm Barack Obama, and you're damn right I approve this message..."
Oh well...
August 18, 2008 4:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ground game is the key, but more attacking on the issues would help.
They should open offices in Arkansas and honor the 50 state strategy. Also, he should go to Alaska during the GOP convention.
August 18, 2008 2:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Remember, Hussein said their are 55 states...
He's so busy looking for the missing five (musta been the Hamburglar!) that he hasn't time to open an office in Arkansas...
August 18, 2008 2:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Remember, Hussein said their are 55 states..."
..and your candidate doesn't know the difference between Sunni and Shia. That Georgia was the "First Serious Crisis" Since Cold War. Thinks that IRAQ and PAKISTAN border each other. See the mindfuck you get yourself in when you pursue such asinine arguments?
August 18, 2008 3:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is the sort of thing that will have long-lasting effects. A campaign ad has a shelf life of maybe a week or two and then it's forgotten. This is what Obama is busy working on while McCain throws mud.
August 18, 2008 2:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can I keep tying bricks to the Obama forms when I mail them?
August 18, 2008 2:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Can I keep tying bricks to the Obama forms when I mail them?"
..what will you have occupying the space between your ears then?
August 18, 2008 3:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama's message to rural voters?
"My manure don't stink!"
"And did I mention my National Service with Community Gardens?"
August 18, 2008 2:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
It seems like everyone wants Obama to run McCain's campaign--lite on substance, heavy on vitrol.
August 18, 2008 2:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Unfortunately, that's what wins elections in 21st century america. Gore had substance and lost, Kerry had substance and lost. It's unfortunate, but it is what it is.
How else can you explain how huge swaths of the country vote against their economic and family interests and vote republican? They have been bombarded with substance and ignore it. They buy into the soundbites.
It's not so much vitriol, it's define mcbush for what he is with soundbites.
August 18, 2008 2:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Then why didn't you back Clinton? She was promising all of what you believe "wins elections in 21st century america." Obama was upfront in telling you that he wasn't going to run that type of campaign....
August 18, 2008 2:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not saying be totally negative or blatantly lie or not cooperate with republicans or screw everyone other than the base. I'm saying be more precise and defining by way of soundbites. People just don't pay attention, which is evidenced by what happened in the primaries. Check out this analysis for 538 and it makes sense. It's under Sunday and obama-clinton. I can't figure out how to do a direct link, but it really makes sense.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/
Obama should be running a pre-february campaign against mcbush. The minute he stopped defining clinton, she started to win and her numbers went up. She bs'd her way to 18 million votes and all the other crap when she lost in february. People didn't pay attention to the substance, they bought the hype and it has caused obama alot of problems since. In retrospect even though he knew she was toast in february, he should have gone for the knock out and he didn't.
August 18, 2008 3:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm issuing this challenge at every available opportunity:
Instead of a general critique that Obama isn't doing this or offering that, tell us what you think Obamam should be saying. You like soundbites? Write your own soundbite. You think simplicity is the key? It shouldn't be too difficult to come up with something simple and compelling. So show us...
August 18, 2008 3:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I actually agree with you and I have been trying to come up with some. Why is it that the republicans always get the good soundbites. Dems should be able to do it as well. It is hard, but it has to be possible, right?
August 18, 2008 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ok, how about this one. Shots from the sixties and nixon, long hair, bell bottoms, etc. Dovetail it with some of mcbush's agenda that I will bet mirrors some of nixon's agenda. Conclude with stuck 38years in the past, old ideas that didn't work then and won't work now. Conclude with mcbush stuck 38years in the past and not ready to lead us into the 21st century. That way everytime he brings up his pow bs it emphasizes for voters how he is stuck 38 years in the past. That sings, what do you think?
August 18, 2008 4:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
How about uninformed stubborness doesn't equal experience. Turn the page Obama 08. That kind of sings.
August 18, 2008 4:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Man, that's gotta cost alot of money just to keep the flakes from bolting, badger the swings and suck up to the Clinton suppoerters. Boatloads of money. Y'all better start sending in your lunch money.
August 18, 2008 2:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nope, Kentucky doesn't have an Obama HQ and isn't going to get one.
That's unfortunate, because despite all the hand-wringing over Appalachia, the truth is that McCain's support here is extremely weak and Obama has a real opportunity if he would just show up in a rural county and ask for votes.
I guess our 8 electoral votes aren't worth it.
August 18, 2008 2:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
But you're out organizing volunteer groups, hosting house parties and stumping on his behalf, right?
August 18, 2008 3:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
While he doesn't devote himself exclusively to rural voters, you might want to drop in on Al Giordano's blog The Field on occasion.
He and his "Field Hands" tend to work off the beaten track, so to speak. And Giordano himself is an interesting character, IMO - e.g., he seems to be much more politically pragmatic than he is "policy-pure", and some of the occasional back-and-forth hissing between him and (to me) the equally admirable Open Left folks provides this political neophyte with valuable education in how this stuff works.
Giordano was (is?) some concatenation of a free lance journalist and political activist, and if I recall correctly - too lazy to check the "About" page over there - like Obama apparently was, he is inspired by the community organizing philosophy of Saul Alinsky (which apparently makes him a dirty pinko Commie in the eyes of some mainstream/corporate Dems).
Anyhoo, even when I don't agree with him, I like him; maybe you will too!
August 18, 2008 3:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree, except for the times when it's "Al's pissing match of the day," he's really good.
August 18, 2008 4:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the 50th state answer. Seems to me, they might as well be completist and open a damn office--maybe help with turnout and down-ballot candidates (Kentucky too, if necessary), particularly in light of the sad events in Little Rock last week.
August 18, 2008 3:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
What happened in little rock last week? I've been tied up with work almost all last week, with very little free time.
August 18, 2008 4:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seriously?
The head of the Arkansas Democratic Party was shot and killed.
August 18, 2008 4:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow! I didn't hear that unfortunately. Like I said I was out of the loop. I will look it up.
August 18, 2008 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hopefully he's getting some good advice from people like Mark Warner on this. Warner campaigned on such things as building high-speed Internet to more rural areas, and followed through as governor, resulting in businesses like call centers providing jobs in rural southwest VA.
August 18, 2008 4:09 PM | Reply | Permalink