Obama Eyes an N.C. Turnaround
I need you Charlotte! I need you North Carolina! thundered Sen. Barack Obama on Sunday, addressing 15,000 people who gathered to hear him in this bright red
“I need you Charlotte! I need you North Carolina!” thundered Sen. Barack Obama on Sunday, addressing 15,000 people who gathered to hear him in this bright red state.
Capping a speech about the economic “values at stake” in the election, Obama sounded more like a field organizer than a candidate, trying to persuade voters that a Democrat could actually win here. “I need you to knock on some doors!” he yelled, “I need you to make some phone calls! I need you to talk to your neighbors!”
North Carolina has voted Republican in every presidential election since 1968, with the post-Watergate exception of 1972, when the Southerner Jimmy Carter won the state.
Obama’s campaign would probably not be spending precious time here in September, however, or investing in large-scale rallies or buying TV ads, unless they thought the state was truly in play. Some recent polling supports their optimism.
Democracy Corps, the polling firm run by Clintonites Stan Greenberg and James Carville, just surveyed the state and found Obama and McCain are neck and neck, with libertarian Bob Barr drawing several points.
Locals say Obama “will do a better job than McCain on the economy and jobs” by 52 to 38 percent.
Even more striking, the firm’s memo, North Carolina Open to Democrats in 2008, states, “Obama holds a small advantage over McCain on taxes, 46 to 41 percent, a remarkable finding for a Democrat in North Carolina.”
Tar Heel voters say the country is on the wrong track by 68 to 22 percent — less than the country as a whole but still a strong majority.
Both presidential candidates now promise change, of course, but Obama can benefit more from antipathy for Republican federal policy in a state that’s been backing the status quo for a long time.
**
Footage from Obama Campaign YouTube channel, “Barack calls on North Carolina.”**
With research by Aaron Wiener.
Related
MA-Sen: 150 Conservative Bloggers Fan Out, Looking for Scandals
BOSTON -- The mysterious Election Journal blog, which first released the infamous 2008 video of two bumbling New Black Panther Party members waving nightsticks
MA-Sen: 66 to 19
BOSTON -- That, via Alex Isenstadt and Josh Kraushaar, is the number that defined the Massachusetts Senate race more than anything else. From the primary
MA-Sen: A Text Message From Scott Brown
BOSTON -- Having signed up for Scott Brown’s text message service for election day, I just got this text: Are you about to have lunch? It’s a great time to
MA-Sen: Loyal Democrats Grouse About Coakley
BOSTON -- A little while after noon, a steady crowd of Democratic voters streamed into the Cathedral High School Gymnasium to cast votes for their party’s
MA-Sen: Brown Wins
BOSTON -- At 9:20, the first rumors of Scott Brown’s victory in the Massachusetts Senate race started to work around the room. A moment later, Doug Flutie
MA-Sen Photos: ‘Paint the Town Red! Croakley’s Dead!’
Below are some photos of yesterday’s People’s Rally in Worcester, the rally that Brown held to counter-program the Obama rally in Boston. The crush of
MA-Sen: Out-of-Staters for Brown
BOSTON -- A surprising discovery at yesterday’s People’s Rally in Worcester was just how many people had traveled into the state to assist, in whatever way,
Menendez, Lautenberg to Continue BP-Lockerbie Investigation
Sens. Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg, both New Jersey Democrats, will continue to seek details about BP’s alleged involvement in the release last year of
Net Investors Bullish on Palin’s Prospects for Staying on Ticket
Just for fun, the Internet prediction Website Intrade has opened a contract on whether Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be withdrawn as McCain’s running mate.
No Experience Necessary
Gov. Sarah Palin’s a middle-class hockey mom, but does that really qualify her to be vice president?