Dan Leistikow

Why such different voter drives?

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:01:15 -0400

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are taking different tacks on voter drives.

Obama is running a traditional voter drive to sign up new voters by Friday's deadline, followed by a push on one-stop voting between April 17 and May 3.

Clinton is waiting to focus on one-stop voting.

One reason for the difference could be the types of voters each campaign hopes to get. Obama's campaign has done well with college students — who often have not registered to vote before — as well as unaffiliated voters, while Clinton is focusing on a more traditional Democratic base.

Under state law, voters can register or re-register to a new party by Friday, but at one-stop sites voters who have already registered in the past cannot switch parties.

"We're bringing Republicans and Democrats and independents onto the voter rolls so that they can have a voice in the primary," said Obama spokesman Dan Leistikow.

Clinton spokeswoman Carly Lindauer said that while they are not formally signing up new voters right now, they have answered questions about registration through the N.C. Ask Me campaign.

"There is an enormous pool of unaffiliated voters, and I think those are giong to be critical to both campaigns in this election," she said.

The debate is on?

ryanteaguebeckwith — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:19:54 -0400

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would debate in Raleigh.

The North Carolina Democratic Party announced today that the two presidential candidates would face off at the RBC Center on April 27.

The 90-minute debate would be sponsored by N.C. State and CBS News. It is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m., immediately following "60 Minutes."

Katie Couric and Bob Schieffer will moderate.

Update: Obama has not yet agreed to the debate.

"We have not received word from the Obama campaign, but we are confident they will agree. North Carolina has 115 delegates and 19 superdelegates," wrote Democratic Party spokeswoman Kerra Bolton in an e-mail to Dome.

Second Update: Obama's campaign confirms that the press release may be a bit premature.

"Senator Obama has debated Senator Clinton more than 20 times so far, and our campaign agreed to another debate in North Carolina that was proposed for the third week of April," wrote spokesman Dan Leistikow in an e-mail to Dome. "Unfortunately, the Clinton campaign vetoed that date. We are still determining whether or not the later date works for Senator Obama's schedule.

Perdue's snapshot with Obama

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:12:47 -0400

The Republican gubernatorial candidate does not need to offer a reward this year.

In 2000, Richard Vinroot offered $500 for the best photo of then-Attorney General Mike Easley and Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore together before a debate at Wake Forest University.

Easley had passed up two previous opportunities to campaign with Gore, meeting with him privately during a ride to the airport instead.

But this year, Beverly Perdue has taken her own photo with Barack Obama and put it front and center on a mailer sent to black households.

Obama spokesman Dan Leistikow said he took pictures with both Perdue and rival Richard Moore during a recent visit. (The photo, which suffers from dark shadows and some forehead glare, does not look professionally staged.)

"It's up to them to use the picture how they see fit," he said. "He's honored to have the support of both candidates."

Leistikow argued that the photos are a sign that North Carolina may be changing.

"Having a candidate like Senator Obama at the top of the ticket — who has proven that he can bring new people into the process and changed the equation for the Democratic Party — is something that the people in North Carolina recognize," he said.

Leistikow to handle media for Obama

ryanteaguebeckwith — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:05:11 -0400

Dan Leistikow knows North Carolina.

The recently appointed spokesman for Barack Obama's state campaign previously worked for Sen. John Edwards' 2008 presidential campaign.

After serving as Edwards' spokesman in Iowa in 2007 and early 2008, Leistikow worked out of the Chapel Hill headquarters. After Edwards dropped out, he became Obama's spokesman in Wisconsin.

Originally from Minnesota, Leistikow worked for several years for Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle and Missouri Sen. Jean Carnahan.

As North Carolina communications director, Leistikow's name will be in the news here quite a bit in the run-up to the May 6 primary.

Not sure how to pronounce his name? Take a listen here.