Obama's Strategy For Beating McCain

Senator Seeks Out White Working-Class Voters, Independents, Hispanics, Catholics, Jews

(AP)  Making up for lost time, Barack Obama is dashing full-tilt into the general-election fight against Republican John McCain without waiting for the Democratic marathon to end.

He's running down McCain more often than the woman he's nominally still fighting for his own party's nomination. And he's running after white working-class voters, independents, Hispanics, Catholics and Jews - voting blocs that will be important in the November election and with whom he's had mixed successes.

Even as Obama tries to fight off Hillary Rodham Clinton in the few remaining primaries, he is campaigning in states that have already held elections and vowing to return to states where he lost to Clinton. His campaign has sent teams into battleground states, set up a program for signing up millions of Democrats over the next six months and is developing ads to use against McCain.

History shows that the earlier a candidate nails down the party nomination, the better his chances of winning. Obama did not have the luxury of an early win, so he did the next best thing. His team is seeking to tether McCain to President Bush, emphasizing McCain's support for the Iraq war and for renewing Bush tax cuts.

“Obviously, we don't want to wake up the morning after we become the nominee and not be prepared,” said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe. Offering a campaign line Obama is already using, he said, “By November, every voter will know that McCain is offering a third Bush term.”

Democratic strategists agree that Obama has his work cut out for him in defining himself on his own terms and countering assertions that he's inexperienced, elitist and out of step with the rest of the country.

“Partly what he's got to do is define his appeal to middle-class voters,” said Democratic pollster Mark Mellman. “I don't think that will be hard. But it's something he has to do, provide some focus on their economic pain and on the issues that are animating him.”

At first glance, the political landscape couldn't be better for the first-term Illinois senator, along with Democrats in general. Republicans are being pulled down by the unpopular Iraq war, the struggling economy and Bush's low approval ratings.

Yet McCain appears to have escaped much of the criticism directed at fellow Republicans. Polls show the Arizona senator to be competitive with Obama in a general-election matchup.

Obama's inability to win primaries in many big industrial battleground states, or to appeal to white working-class voters or to many older people, particularly women, make him vulnerable - as does his lack of economic and foreign-policy experience.

“Clearly Obama has to give people more confidence in his ability in protecting the country, where McCain has a huge advantage, wider than Bush enjoyed over John Kerry four years ago,” said pollster Andrew Kohut, president of the independent Pew Research Center.

Most of those questioned in a Pew survey this month described McCain as “a centrist whose views are fairly close to their own.” The same voters see Obama as far to the left of themselves.

Obama's team began a transition to general-election mode weeks ago.

He is reaching out to Hispanics, the nation's fastest-growing minority, and to Jewish voters. Both groups, while traditionally Democratic, eye him with some suspicion. And he's started to wear an American flag lapel pin.

Obama's team is trying to find ways to counter what former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson calls “the Obama narrative,” an effort by Republicans to portray Obama as a man of the academic left, out of touch with everyday American concerns.

[eroosevelt08]

More people have gone to the polls and caucuses and voted for Hillary Clinton than have done so for Obama. She should have the nomination. More Americans want her than Obama.

That is a pretty straight forward fact.

[eroosevelt08]

More people have gone to the polls and caucuses and voted for Hillary Clinton than have done so for Obama. She should have the nomination. More Americans want her than Obama.

That is a pretty straight forward fact.

[ksh1022]

Obama supporters like to label us Hillary supporters as Repubs pretending to be Dems. They can''t imagine why we are not drinking the koolaid with them. Not every Dem is far left in their belief system. I have voted Dem since 1980. I strongly believe that Obama is too far left ideologically (as I did with Dukakis and Kerry)and Obama has no resume. If I owned a company I wouldn''t give him a management job with his resume. I''d laugh if he applied for the CEO position. This is what Obama and his supporters want us to do. They want us to pretend that it doesn''t matter that Obama has no experience. Obama needs the core Dem base to win the general. Not all Dems are drinking the kool-aid. I will not vote for Obama in the general if he is the nominee. I will write in Hillary or vote McCain.

[jack3213]

Obama will lose to McCain because he has dangerous plans and has no experiance. He is a senator for all of two years- did not vote on many many things- and has been in hiding- why are people so naive and want such a dangerous leader? Wishful thinking on their part- that is what is most dangerous when you don''t know how much experiance is valued. Would you hire him to teach your children or someone much more experianced? Simple question. Simple answer

[tiredofthebs]

TiredoftheBS

You are not now and never have been a Democrat. You are a GOP troll pretending to have been one in an exceptionally lame attempt to cause problems within the Democratic party. Even fat boy Rush wasn''''t able to, so what makes you think your feeble attempts will have any effect mudrose?

Posted by SgtRDS-E4 at 02:04 AM : May 20, 2008

I''m growin'' sick of your accusations. If you wanna back some ''idealistic dreamer'' who barely knows where the SENATE men''s room is, fine. Once again, you don''t know me. STAY OUTTA MY FACE! The question was for RowdyTexan2.

[sgtrds-e4]

Notice the news story that O''''Bama cannot win without the core Democratic women voters many who will not vote for O''''Bama.

Posted by zavatchen at 12:12 AM : May 20, 2008

I have no doubt you would have never voted for him anyway troll.

[sgtrds-e4]

TiredoftheBS

You are not now and never have been a Democrat. You are a GOP troll pretending to have been one in an exceptionally lame attempt to cause problems within the Democratic party. Even fat boy Rush wasn''t able to, so what makes you think your feeble attempts will have any effect mudrose?

[tiredofthebs]

Rowdy ....... quick question for you. Has our party EVER nominated a candidate for President that DIDN''T win the popular vote? I can''t find anything on the net, and it troubles me that the media is omitting this information (popular vote count)lately.

[zavatchen]

Notice the news story that O''Bama cannot win without the core Democratic women voters many who will not vote for O''Bama.

[rowdytexan2]

To all Clinton supporters ...

Notice the absent news story: "Clinton''''s strategy for beating McCain".

Woops.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by powersmaker at 09:42 PM : May 19, 2008

We already know what her strategy is. Getting her name on the ballot. That''s all it''ll take!

[rushlimpdrug]

"Obama''s Strategy For Beating McCain"

1. Lock up the wife in the closet;

2. Forbid anyone speaking about her;

3. Don''t let her out until after the election.

[powersmaker]

To all Clinton supporters ...

Notice the absent news story: "Clinton''s strategy for beating McCain".

Woops.

[rowdytexan2]

Seems like Obama might need to be nominated first after all the voting gets done in the primaries and at convention.

[rowdytexan2]

What''s Obama''s strategy, a wet noodle, and his racism game?

[realpatriot1]

jack3213,

Obama will win in November. It''s because of McCain that this will happen.

[jack3213]

My friends, the definition of stupidity is believing in fairy tales and wishing for change from an inexperianced and unqualified candidate. MCain will win in Nov. 2008. It is because of Clinton that this will happen. Those who support her now will not vote for Obama. This, my friends, is a fact.

[mydogdylan6]

I''m verklempt. Here''s a topic - Obama or McCain? Talk amongst yourselves.

[mydogdylan6]

Yah Gramma, I too base my vote on whether a candidate really wears a flag pin or not....it''s terribly important to his abilty to govern our nation.

And oh my, that scarrry pastor who says things that sooo scary to us white folk. We can''t have that now can we?

Yep, give me another idiot in office that I feel I can drink a beer with!

[mydogdylan6]

I just want McCain to beat Bush''s all time record US budget deficit, all time record US debt, and all time record international borrowing.

McCain''s policies indicate he can do it! Go Johnny go!

I mean, no one ever has to pay for all that debt anyway right? We''ll just pass it on to the next generations and let them deal with it.

Well, a few million middle class American jobs will be again be sent to slave labor countries, but who cares? Exxon and Haliburton are making record profits every year and that makes me feel good about supporting Johnny Mac.

GOP all the way

[ponco seno]

MacCain is a very, very, very, old man. I think a good strategy for beating MacCain would be big, long bamboo canes.


Posted by RandyNason at 07:11 PM : May 19, 2008




:-)