Following the Flock
June 19, 2012 - by
Political reporters are like flocks of birds. One bird flies to a wire, and every bird flies to the same wire. One national political reporter writes a story about Obama’s problems in North Carolina, and every national political reporter writes the same story.
The latest story to cause the Obama campaign heartburn came from the Tampa Bay Tribune: “North Carolina poses uphill battle for Obama, though Charlotte is DNC host city.”
It’s a familiar litany: unions complain about holding the convention in Charlotte, gay-marriage amendment passes, Governor Perdue is unpopular, the legislature went Republican, N.C. Democratic Party is in turmoil, John Edwards is John Edwards and – the money shot – “pundits have become increasingly skeptical about President Barack Obama’s Tarheel (sic) State prospects.”
The story digs through the numbers from 2008: Obama carried the state by only 14,000 votes, African-American turnout was high, Obama did well with independents and white women, but now the excitement has faded, hope and change seem far away and can he do it again?
But there’s one thing all these birds miss. Suppose the Obama campaign goes out and gets 100,000 new voters: young people, Hispanics and African-Americans. Suppose, in other words, his team does again what it did in 2008: expands – and reshapes – the electorate.
Nobody thought they could do it then. Don’t sell them short now.
Following the Flock
June 19, 2012/
Political reporters are like flocks of birds. One bird flies to a wire, and every bird flies to the same wire. One national political reporter writes a story about Obama’s problems in North Carolina, and every national political reporter writes the same story.
The latest story to cause the Obama campaign heartburn came from the Tampa Bay Tribune: “North Carolina poses uphill battle for Obama, though Charlotte is DNC host city.”
It’s a familiar litany: unions complain about holding the convention in Charlotte, gay-marriage amendment passes, Governor Perdue is unpopular, the legislature went Republican, N.C. Democratic Party is in turmoil, John Edwards is John Edwards and – the money shot – “pundits have become increasingly skeptical about President Barack Obama’s Tarheel (sic) State prospects.”
The story digs through the numbers from 2008: Obama carried the state by only 14,000 votes, African-American turnout was high, Obama did well with independents and white women, but now the excitement has faded, hope and change seem far away and can he do it again?
But there’s one thing all these birds miss. Suppose the Obama campaign goes out and gets 100,000 new voters: young people, Hispanics and African-Americans. Suppose, in other words, his team does again what it did in 2008: expands – and reshapes – the electorate.
Nobody thought they could do it then. Don’t sell them short now.