Frightened Dems pull party apparatus back to Chicago
DNC to be near Barry's freinds and mentors.
By Mark Kilmer Posted in Chicago | Democrats | DNC | Emil Jones | Obama | Pflager | Rezko | wright — Comments (26) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
I think, deep down, quite a few of us all liked Howard Dean, insofar that his rhetoric was over-the-top funny and his instincts were… well, "YEAAARRRRGH!" And, as Rush Limbaugh reports, Howard knows the score so far. Spake Limbaugh into his Golden EIB Microphone on Wednesday:
I had a plant today in a Howard Dean breakfast with reporters, and I just got the report from the plant who attended the Howard Dean breakfast, and this is what he said. He said, "Democrats are nervous about Obama's chances in November, but Howard Dean called such unease healthy." I know they're nervous. They have been nervous when the guy started losing primary after primary after primary in major states to the witch [Hillary?]. They were bugged by this. They were troubled by it. He did not get votes from traditional Democrat constituencies. You know they're worried! So my plant at the Howard Dean breakfast confirms this. Dean says, "I'm actually thrilled that they're nervous. I think it's about time. Last spring there was this feeling of confidence, that we're just going to roll through everything, and that's how you lose elections. So I'm delighted that Democrats are really worried about whether they can win or not. I'm just delighted about this! It's absolutely going to be close."
There is no way that Howard Dean is excited that they are worried.
Obama's nervous, as evidenced by the fact that he is moving Howie and the party apparatus from DC to Chicago. Ben Smith at Politico.com tells us:
Read On…
[L]arge parts of the committee's [DNC] operations are relocating to Chicago to be fully integrated with the Obama campaign.
The DNC's political department, housed in Washington, D.C., will be dramatically rebuilt, with staffers offered a choice of moving to Chicago, joining state operations, or staying in Washington, DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney said.
But the power will clearly be shifting to a centralized Chicago hub.
The DNC's key role in coordinating political operations with state parties is expected to largely be taken over and overseen by Obama's senior staff in Chicago, state party officials said.
Smith further reports that Dems familiar with the Obama Plan report further that Obama's pulling people from Howie's 50 State Program and putting them to work in electorally competitive States.
It is Barry's national strategy, and he has been forced to do it by his own unpopularity in spots, which is itself driving elements of his party away from his effort.
It makes sense, really, for Barry to move his DNC to Chicago. Bring it home, closer to political allies like Ayers and Wright, Rezko and Pflager. And Obama's kingmaker, the machine-made D. Emil Jones.
It is the site of the invigorating and exciting Democratic National Convention of 1968! (It looks like that one won't repeated itself in Denver this year, as Hillary has suggested that she might not contest this nomination to the end. But as things become increasingly more untenable for Team Barry, Hillary's kept her delegates and can act if she must.)
Team Barry and their party apparatus seem to be ascared and adrift, wondering when the school – nay! the phalanx of Humboldt Squid will attack from the depths, latch their suckers onto the suckers, and chew them up with nasty, little teeth.
So Howard Dean is going to Illinois? YEAAARRRRGH!
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Frightened Dems pull party apparatus back to Chicago 26 Comments (0 topical, 26 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
Would you mind sourcing your statements?
Happy to.
National polls found at pollster.com
State polls at fivethirtyeight.com
Intrade futures at intrade.com.
Sorry I don't remember where the Obama is hiring staff in all 50 states is from, but I read this recently. It is probably on his website's blog or its list of press releases.
I've taken the liberty of actually adding the links to the post that you should have, including the minor little detail that you mixed new polls with ones that were one, and in one case two, months old. Sloppy work, that.
You will never again mention a poll without adding the link; you will never, ever again assume that we're too stupid to check; and you will apologize to the board in your next post for trying this. Next post, or last one. I don't care which.
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!
(Let them think they're winning!)
Obama 2008 = roughly analogous to Reagan 1980.... Reagan fused the anti-taxers and the Christian conservatives, two constituencies of the GOP that felt kicked to the curb and demanded to be recognized as the new mainstream. Obama is fusing the African-American and white urban vote, two constituencies of the Democratic party that have felt kicked to the curb and who demand to be recognized as the mainstream.
Just trying to communicate the situation- it's as grim for the GOP right now as it was for the Dems in 1980. My morality forces me to help my opponents- now please ignore this information and go on thinking everything's cool.
...you've not yet mastered the First Rule of Giving Helpful Advice To Those Who Won't Take It Anyway.
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!
The campaign has not begun, and the election most certainly is not tomorrow. Only a few of us have made up our minds.
How many votes to Intraders have? One per US citizen. How closely are these Intraders following the dynamics of this election or gauging what might or probably will happen in the future.
Obama is bringing DC people to Chicago,
A few scattered paid staffers do not make contests in all fifty States. As the electoral map continues to form, grow, and evolve, Barry's peeps will put their money and boots where they can do their best work.
Honestly, when I consider Obama, I wonder what will explode next. Can he continue to grow baggage at this rate, and how much of that which he is still accumulating daily will stick on him through November?
With Obama, you have a candidate with a tremendous potential upside and a possibly devastating downside.
"The only polls that matter are those on election day."
We've had three elections where Dems took areas the GOP could easily win before by double digit margins.
These polls have more credence then an assumption that Obama will implode.
They are clear signs that things are going in the wrong direction. Dismissing polls you don't like does no good. The fact that polls are showing Obama winning in Indiana (even though it's in the margin of error), is a big fat warning sign that should not be ignored.
Mark, true, early polls are not as predictive as late polls. However, I note that Kerry was *never* as far ahead of Bush as Obama is ahead of McCain right now.
Here is a graph of the RCP poll average from march-november 2004.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Presidential_04/chart3way.html
If you look at it, it was tight almost the entire election season except for September when Bush had a large lead, and indeed the actual result was quite close.
But most importantly in my view, the biggest lead Kerry every had over Bush in the RCP average was in early July when it briefly ticked up to 48-Kerry/45.5-Bush.
Right now, but contrast, Obama is ahead in the RCP average by 4.8 points (and 5.1% at pollster.com)
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/us/general_electi...
If what everyone (Democrats, at least) say is true, then Obama should be up by 10-15 pts at minimum.
If the country really hates Bush, and if the Republican brand is soooooo bad, and the economy is sooooo terrible, and everyone hates the Iraq war, and everyone is looking for "change", and Obama is "fresh", and Obama is "bipartisan" and a "unifier", and the generic ballots favor Democrats by double digits.....why isn't Obama CRUSHING McCain in both national polls and in each state-by-state polls?
Even with the media giving Obama a sloppy wet tongue bath every night, it still hasn't moved the needle much farther than the margin of error.
“.....women and minorities hardest hit”
So when John Zogby said in summer of 2004, "it is John Kerry's race to lose and he is not going to lose it"...
you mean Obama has a bigger lead than that? A five point lead today is insurmountable huh? I guess that 18 point lead Dukakis had over HW Bush was likewise insurmountable..
"Small town folks get bitter after which they cling to guns or religion, or antipathy to people who aren't like them, or anti-immigrant sentiment"- Barack Carter Obama
Only one poll matters.
It takes place in Early November, on a Tuesday Morning.
Everything before that is wishful thinking and slight of hand.
Little more than mental masturbation.
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Dependence is Slavery.
Oh sorry for the lack of links Moe, and thank you for adding them. I do learn, my next post had two links!
...you were actually in. You really should have apologized for thinking that we were that dumb. Then again, you're an Obama supporter, which means that you'd rather eat broken glass.
Blam.
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!
You mean the same Intrade where for a month I had Obama to win South Dakota at 93, and then 36 hours before the election it dropped to 8?
That Intrade? The one where I had to sell Obama to win New Hampshire, Indiana and South Dakota the day before to avoid taking a huge bath?
That Intrade?
"Small town folks get bitter after which they cling to guns or religion, or antipathy to people who aren't like them, or anti-immigrant sentiment"- Barack Carter Obama
One must wonder in this move just how much is it costing, and where is the money coming from? And where is it going? Into the City machine? You can bet on that...
The thing about bounces is that they never last. Further, why wasn't Obama that far ahead before the bounce? Why was it ever close? This is after all 'your year' Obama should have been that far ahead and then bounced even further.
Yet he didn't. Funny that...
Tonight, McCain holds a Townhall meeting, to be shown live on FoxNews, the largest cable audience out there. Obama will not be there. He was, very publicly invited. Why is he not there.
We here all know why. Do you?
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It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
--Aristotle
would try to compete in all FIFTY-FOUR.
Anyone who actually has a brain knows fully well the stakes are high, and even Democrats who have a brain knows that John McCain is the better choice than Barack Hussein Obama.
Sure i've had disagreements with McCain on some things but in the last math I did on this whole thing, my agreements with McCain outweigh my disagreements, but in the case of Obama, I disagree with Obama more than agreeing.
This goes beyond party preference, this is not about who is Republican or Democrat, this is about who is right and wrong for America.
McCain has the leadership experience, Obama lacks that.
Obama is a friend of the terrorists, but McCain has proven he can be tough on bad guys.
To all those Obama supporters out there, explain his association with a racist Church (McCain wasn't associated with a racist Church at all, heck neither was Hillary Clinton, sure Hillary is not angel herself but Obama has made her look like one, and the fact loads of Hillary supporters are backing McCain is no joke, it's a serious thing and I bet loads of the Reagan Democrats will be backing McCain too).
Ryan McReynolds
Republican candidate for Precinct Delegate
Birch Run, Michigan
To all those Obama supporters out there, explain his association with a racist Church.
He more or less chose it randomly. According to what I've read, he's never been particularly religious in the classic sense. I surmise from my understanding of American politics that one needs to belong to some church or other for strategic reasons.
One could certainly say he chose poorly. On the other hand, it may have served him well as a fact finding mission of sorts.
He has called his faith "deeply important" to him, and has referred to Rev Wright as his "spiritual guide".
He either believes the things that the TUCC espoused, or he didn't, and (as you say) joined for "strategic" (political) reasons.
In the former, Obama is a racist. In the latter, he is an unprincipled liar.
Either way this is a big drag on Obama, and it will continue to be throughout the campaign. We haven't put this thing to bed yet, and it will be dredged up over and over and over between now and the election.
“.....women and minorities hardest hit”
Understandably the Obama campaign is wanting to control the DNC. My question is if the DNC should issue campaign ads as independent expenditures against McCain how do they get around McCain-Feingold if Obama's folks are running most of the DNC? Wouldn't the FEC look at these expenditures as though they were directly from Obama's presidential committee? Or is this even really an issue?
"Cowards cut and run, Marines never do"
...this kind of reorg isn't trivial, to put it mildly - and especially when it happens in the middle of an election. The DNC will be effectively shut down for at least a week because of it, probably-possibly two, maybe a month if disaster hits. The staffing problems will persist for somewhat longer.
If I didn't know better, I'd think that there are monetary issues involved - this certainly sounds like an emergency move to consolidate operations, and thus save on operating expenses - but isn't the Obama campaign supposed to be richer than Croesus?
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!
Hillary is not angel herself but Obama has made her look like one, and the fact loads of Hillary supporters are backing McCain is no joke, it's a serious thing and I bet loads of the Reagan Democrats will be backing McCain too).
Agreed. Unless Barry chooses Hillary as his Veep, he's going to need to really turn on the charm to win over the "Harriet Christian" voting bloc. Whether he is able to pull that off or not may very well be the deciding factor in the election.
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hopperbach
The DNC centralized operations did us much damage in 2006. Obama in his wisdom has decided to sunder them. (Lets face it, he might of well offered these people the opportunity to move to Alabama for all the difference it makes to them). Perhaps he can get the Democratic Congressional Committee to move to Miami and the Senate Committee to move to Boise.
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
[I've taken the liberty of actually adding the links this poster should have. I'll be yelling at him in another post, never you fear. - Moe Lane]
Well I am not nervous at all about Obama's chances. The two daily tracking polls both show him up 6%, and the most recent state level polls show him leading in Wisconsin by 13% [up], Washington by 18% [up], New Jersey by 6% [down], Iowa by 7% [down], Colorado by 6% [pre-concession: last poll 5/19], Indiana by 1% [pre-concession: last poll 4/28], Michigan by 3% [up], Minnesota by 5% [pre-concession: last poll 5/16], New Hampshire by 5% [pre-concession: last poll 5/21], PA by 6% [2%, actually, and pre-concession: last poll 5/21], Oregon by 10% [pre-concession: last poll 5/16], and Virginia by 7% [pre-concession: last poll 5/16].
If the election were held today, it would be Obama by a landslide. Sure anything could happen, but Obama is a much more gifted speaker than McCain, and poll and poll on the actual issues show Americans support Obama's positions by even bigger margins than Obama's current leads.
Over at Intrade, where people actually back their predictions with their own hard-earned money, the "Democrats win the 2008 presidential election" contract is trading at 64 while the GOP is at 35.
Obama moving DNC resources out of the Beltway seems to be a good way to underscore he is not the candidate who has spent the last 30 years in Washington. And Obama is running a 50-state campaign. He will be the first candidate in recent memory to have paid staff in EVERY state.