Obama To Compete In Georgia
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Democrats, Georgia, McCain, Polls, RepublicansHe’s opening offices, spending money and starting outreach in earnest.
The Obama camp has said that Georgia will be competitive, and the campaign is putting money where its mouth is. It has opened offices in Atlanta, Savannah and Macon. And, on Monday, two of Obama’s top supporters in South Carolina said paid staff will be on the ground there, too. [...]“Sen. Obama is committed to fighting for every vote in Georgia, …” campaign spokeswoman Gannet Tseggai said in an e-mail to The Telegraph. “Already we have 75 staff members on the ground. …
But is this realistic? After all, Bush won Georgia by 17 points in 2004 and 12 points in 2000.
The answer from First Read: maybe…
The reasons:
- it’s one of the youngest states in the union, and he’s likely to over-perform with young voters;
- he can register more African-American voters and then maximize turnout;
- the state’s teeming with non-native voters, who might be more willing to vote Democratic;
- Bob Barr’s name is on the ballot, and that could draw conservatives;
- and 5), the Obama camp is hoping evangelicals in the state sit on their hands for McCain.
Obama needs all five of these factors to come true to make Georgia competitive, which won’t be easy.
Still, he pummeled Hillary in Peach State and I can’t help but think he’s going to give McCain enough of a run for his money here that the Arizona senator will have to spend extra dollars just to make sure he wins. And that could ultimately be the biggest reason Obama competes in Georgia…not to win, but to spread McCain so thin that he’s extremely vulnerable in emerging swing states like Colorado, Nevada, Montana and Virginia.
More as it develops…
This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Barack, Democrats, Georgia, McCain, Polls, Republicans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
