By Mike Dorning
CONCORD, N.H.—In the final stretch of the campaign before most voters tune out for the Christmas holidays, Barack Obama is ratcheting up a populist message that echoes a signature theme of rival Democrat John Edwards.
Obama began a two-day swing through New Hampshire today with a roundtable on “Reclaiming the American Dream” for the middle class, casting the economic hardships of working people as aggravated by well-heeled interests that have captured the government
“It’s time we had a president who sees the government not as a tool to enrich well-connected friends and high-powered lobbyists but as the defender of fairness and opportunity for every single American,” Obama said in his opening remarks. “That’s what this country has always been about, and that’s the kind of president I’m going to be.”
Likewise, when 65-year-old Sandra Burt of Concord complained of the high out-of-pocket prescription drug costs she and her husband must pay under Medicare’s drug coverage, Obama used the opportunity not merely to tout his health plan but excoriate the influence of pharmaceutical industry lobbyists in Washington.
“There’s a direct correlation between the lobbyists in Washington and your situation,” Obama said, arguing that industry-backed provisions in the prescription drug program block the government from negotiating price discounts for pharmaceuticals that he said could reduce the cost to Medicare beneficiaries.Such roundtables, which feature a conversation between the candidate and a handful of pre-selected voters centered on a selected theme, are a way of shaping local news coverage toward the campaign’s message of the day.
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The theme of tamping down the influence of entrenched interests is hardly new to the Obama campaign—Obama has eschewed federal lobbyist contributions since the start and early on offered a plan to reduce lobbyist influence—but he appears to be amplifying the theme at the moment. He spoke quite a bit about fighting lobbyists during a six-day bus tour of Iowa that he just completed.
With many voters still uncertain of their choices—a CNN/WMUR poll of New Hampshire voters released today found two-thirds of Democrats in the state have not made a final decision on their votes—Obama has lately has been keeping an eye on Edwards’s potential to draw voters. Obama and Edwards both draw from voters more interested in “change” and fresh ideas while those favoring “experience” gravitate toward Hillary Clinton.
The populist theme offers an appeal to voters wavering between Obama and Edwards that is the reverse side of political dynamic displaying in the gentle sparring between the two candidates over the past several days.
Last Friday, Edwards said Obama was too conciliatory for saying he would bring drug and insurance interests “to the table” in negotiations for expanded health coverage.
Obama responded a day later with a rare mention of Edwards by name and criticized his call to keep health-care interests out of negotiations on expanding medical coverage as “just not realistic.”
On Monday, Obama mentioned Edwards by name again, calling him a “good guy,” but also claiming that Edwards had not done much to challenge lobbyists while in the Senate. Edwards responded by noting he has never accepted political donations from lobbyists or political action committees, while Obama did not begin such a ban until his presidential bid.