newsobserver.com projects - N.C. among second tier of Obama targets - Comments

Re: N.C. among second tier of Obama targets

JohnHood — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:41:40 -0400

Well, actually, Ryan, we'll know that Obama is still thinking about how to win NC if he says he owes you a Pepsi, the pride of the Carolinas, rather than that hard-edged, inferior beverage from further south.

Re: N.C. among second tier of Obama targets

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:59:39 -0400

Point taken.

And if I jinx him, does he owe me a Coke?

— RTB

Re: N.C. among second tier of Obama targets

liam — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:52:36 -0400

Yikes, way to jinx Obama RTB.

For the record, Kerry didn't "pull our of the state entirely." He just stopped airing ads. His field and political staff remained in the state to support his campaign and those of the targeted Senate and Governor races, a situation we have here in NC again this year.

N.C. among second tier of Obama targets

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:02:28 -0400

North Carolina is among Barack Obama's second tier of targets.

In an interview with Politico, the Democratic presidential nominee's deputy campaign manager, Steve Hildebrand, said that they will focus on 14 states won by George W. Bush in 2004.

Hildebrand, in an interview, listed states in order of the margin by which Bush carried them: The closest four, Iowa, New Mexico, Ohio, Nevada, he said, would see "a ton of attention."
But he said Obama would campaign hard in ten more states, with the candidate and his top surrogates spending time on the ground and his campaign spending money in the air. Those are Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Virginia, North Carolina, Montana, North Dakota, Indiana, Georgia, and Alaska.

That likely means a few high-profile rallies and a regular drumbeat of ads here, but not a full-court press such as we saw in the Democratic primary.

If past experience holds, Obama might start to drop off in the polls closer to election day and pull out of the state ~~entirely~~, as John Kerry did.