Plouffe: N.C. front and center


David Plouffe says North Carolina is "front and center" in Barack Obama's campaign.

In response to a question from Dome in a conference call today, Obama's campaign manager said that the state is not in a second tier of battleground states.

"North Carolina is something that we think is highly competitive and very winnable," he said.

He said that he views states like South Carolina, Mississippi or Kentucky as second-tier states where Obama will be sending staffers but not yet spending a lot of money in search of an upset. In North Carolina, he said that increased turnout of young and African-American voters will help.

"We'll be fighting as hard as we can in North Carolina," he said.

Dome had read this earlier interview with Obama's field manager as saying that North Carolina would not receive as much attention as Iowa, New Mexico, Ohio and Nevada.

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