Not a bad move for Obama to hang out with Pittsburgh Steeler legends Franco Harris and Jerome Bettis.
This is probably good politics, too, although it kind of makes me cringe.
“The truth is that my foreign policy is actually a return to the traditional bipartisan realistic policy of George Bush’s father, of John F. Kennedy, of, in some ways, Ronald Reagan, and it is George Bush that’s been naive and it’s people like John McCain and, unfortunately, some Democrats that have facilitated him acting in these naive ways that have caused us so much damage in our reputation around the world,” he said.
I think you have to go back to Eisenhower to find a president whose foreign policy is worthy of emulation, and even Ike made his share of huge mistakes. But this is a campaign, and I think it is wise to point out that Bush-McCain’s policy toward Iraq represents a significant break from the past.
Obama will be at Penn State University and in Harrisburg tomorrow. He’ll be at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster on Monday. I don’t know his schedule for Tuesday, but on Wednesday he is going do Hardball’s College Tour at West Chester University in Chester County.
By the way, I randomly ran into former Senator Harris Wofford today when we both decided to drop into Obama Headquarters at the same time. We had a nice chat with him, mostly about nothing.
I also did a stealth visit to Clinton Headquarters, but more on that recon trip later…
I’ve been working the phones in PA. Obama has a long way to go to make in roads.
Racial attitudeUp. Wow. He has a better chance in KY.
Depressing…not much changed since I left the state.
Just know that the campaign farms out the areas it has the least chance of winning to the calls the general public is allowed to reach. They keep the vital key areas to the local campaign folks. It’s a really smart strategy for the campaign, but it can be disheartening if you don’t know that going in.
Remember – the goal isn’t to persuade. The goal is simply to ID voters. If you get the chance to pull someone over to your side, that’s frosting, but that’s not the main goal. It’s all about finding and turning out the vote that’s there, as a surprising amount of supporters won’t actually go to the polls and vote without being prodded.
Thanks for doing this. I am very grateful for your efforts!
I didn’t know that. Thanks for the explanation.
Yeah. I learned that when I was calling Texas. I was communicating with someone and they had something like priority one, priority two, and priority three districts – the latter being farmed out to more distant volunteers. I could call 25 people before finding an Obama supporter. Ah, but the joy when I did!
By contrast, in my own district I was more likely than not to hit an Obama person every few calls. And when I called for MoveOn, about 4 out of every 9 were Obama people.
BUT! When its get out the vote time, nearly everyone you call is an Obama supporter. In Wyoming, nearly everyone I called was not only a supporter, but had already gotten several calls. We’re told don’t worry about bugging people, but some of them were complaining this was “too much of a good thing.”
He’s got about as much chance of winning a presidential primary in Kentucky as I have of winning a mayoral race in Guadalajara, I’m afraid. Appalachia isn’t fertile ground for anyone a shade darker than Robert Byrd. He should do alright in areas like Louisville, but not much beyond that.
Penn is too old and too working-class, hence everyone (even the Clinton campaign) agrees that, if Obama wins there, it’s over. I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility, but it’s highly unlikely. Keeping it to within ten points should be considered a decent night. Lock up Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Philly, and things will be looking alright.
I thought Harrisburg was in the conservative part of the state?
I don’t think so. I seem to remember it being about 50% black, and I think Kerry drew a crowd of about 50k there in 2004, shortly before or after he picked Edwards for Veep. I could be wrong, though.
My sister is in Harrisburg on business a lot and I had the impression it was pretty conservative. But I don’t really know it.
It’s abut 90 minutes west of me, and it’s a great deal more conservative than my area.
It is, but there’s a strong progressive contingent in the area too.
the’re bumper stickers being sported in KY.
“Monica Lewinsky’s ex boyfriend’s wife for President”
and as in many ‘fly-over’ mid dixie states, Obama surprised. it’s not winner take all. We’ll see.
As for PA, Clinton’s lead has shrunk -now 10-12 points with 3 weeks to go. Casey will be of some help.
This election ’08 is a grass roots people power revolution. Clinton is offering the past.
Obama’s planning ahead for Indiana. Did you see this three-on-three basketball challenge he’s got for Indiana?
Seems pretty brilliant to me.
It is. I’d love to be in on it, even though he’d undoubtedly kick my clumsy ass up and down the court.
I love it! He did the dinner with Barack, but Hillary and John McCain could do that. But I’d love to see Hill and JM try to shoot some hoops! 😉
My state senator, who is a young, short, white guy but a great basketball player, did some 3-on-3 basketball games as part of his campaign and I think has continued them as an annual event. It was a great idea as a form of reachout to the black community because he already had the basketball connection with the black community through the local boys club and this let the people he already knew bring their friends and family to an event.
But Obama has reached a whole other level by combining it with a young person’s voter registration drive.
And in Indiana. Where they love their basketball.
Brilliant.
His whole campaign has been SO WELL RUN. It’s the best run machine I’ve seen in years. Not counting California..! 😉 That was a bit too haphazard for my tastes!
How loud does the alarm have to ring? Obama is your garden variety politician. Part of the problem, not the solution.
http://www.mickeyz.net
So, while it’s great that you look cute in a pink and black teddy…. What does your link contribute to the discussion?
Your dissenting voice is welcome, but please make an argument instead of self-promoting.
Someone over at dKos did a diary about Barak Obama stopping in Altoona. In the comments people linked to pictures of him going bowling there and buying his entourage hot dogs. This reminds me of Bill and Al’s bus tour of Wisconsin after the 92 convention.
As someone over there pointed out, PA is a very rural state because it has two cities and lots of rural area in between. heh
That’s why these are the most important days of his PA campaign. If you can reach people in a rural area, they call all their friends, and so on and so on. It may not turn into a win, but it should change the minds of people who never thought they’d vote for him until them met him.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_mickey_z_080329_progressives__28and_z_.htm
Pfeh. You callin’ us a bunch of hicks who get the first day of hunting season off from school every year?
heh
rural is in the eye of the beholder I guess …
Hey, don’t take it the wrong way. He won Georgia and Virginia, after all. Seems if we get the states with rural areas of lily-white hunters and large cities with a lot of black folks, he wins. Think of Philly as being like Atlanta, but with water and no insane governor.
Georgia? Nah? It’s like Missouri – two cities, one on each side of the state, with lots of non-city areas in between.
During Missouri’s primary BooMan made clear that Missouri was a rural state. Like Iowa. Like Nebraska. Now it’s Pennsylvania’s turn for the spotlight and everyone is drawing the same conclusion as he did. Two cities. One on each side of the state. Lots of non-city areas in between. Very rural.
See how BooMan is always ahead of the curve?
I forgot to add the snark tag. Although I did grow up thinking everyone had the first day of hunting season off… 🙂
Oh, not to worry. I knew it was snark. And, hey, at least you got an extra day off.
from Steve Everett’s diary over at dKos.
I hate to be so damned sappy, but can we give each other a chance, for once? I think we can do fantastic things together for this country…if we just give each other a chance.
Yes, I know…all that from a flippin’ video. Again, sorry for the sap.
Larry Lessig posted his speech at UPenn over at his blog. Audio with his power point presentation. Well worth taking the time to listen.
He hits Hillary hard (in a calm rational way) on the bankruptcy/credit card debt issue and on the lobby money issue.
I would embed it here but I don’t know how in the format it is in.
It’s very good. Thanks!
Cringe on, Booman.
Cringe on, bubba.
Your man is just Hillary Clinton in drag, and the policies of economic imperialism that have crippled (and will continue to cripple) this country are going to be on the table for the next 8 years no matter WHO wins this election.
Deal wid it.
GOD I love Democrats!!!
So…entertaining.
AG
I found it quite amusing to watch the folks at TalkLeft eviscerate Bob Casey’s support for Obama on the basis of his pro-life credentials (just one woman-hater endorsing another), and holding John Murtha up as a better endorsement for Hillary…
Of course, no mention was made of Murtha’s record on reproductive rights, or the BS we all had to live through about “Casey can win against Santorum BECAUSE he’s pro-life” back in 2005-2006. Clearly, the right doesn’t have a corner on the “WTF are you thinking?” market.
People will never cease to amaze and amuse me.
I started to write a response here, and several hours later…???
Abracadabra!!! It’s a post.
BLOGSTRIKE!!! (Why not? It’s now just the media writ small.)
Thanks for the thought.
Later…
AG