by John McCormick
Barack Obama’s campaign manager said today that Hillary Clinton’s campaign is not viewing the electoral map as expansively as it should and that could hurt her chances in a general election.
On a conference call with reporters, David Plouffe seized upon a comment in today’s New York Times by senior Clinton adviser Harold Ickes, who said some of the states Obama has won in the primary are not winnable for a Democrat in a general election.
“Most of those states haven’t voted Democratic in a presidential since the Johnson landslide over Goldwater in 1964, and we don’t see that changing,” Ickes was quoted as saying. “They’re great states, but Idaho, Nebraska and the Carolinas are not going to be in the Democratic column in November. He’s winning the Democratic process, but that is virtually irrelevant to the general election.”
Plouffe called the statement the equivalent of waving a “white flag” and said Obama has proven his ability to win in some red states. “Barack Obama will compete vigorously in the state of North Carolina,” he said.
Following Obama’s easy win Tuesday in Mississippi, Plouffe continued to play down expectations for the next contest, the April 22 Pennsylvania primary. “Our campaign will not be defined by Pennsylvania,” he said.
With contests in eight states and two U.S. territories between now and early June, Plouffe said the campaign is putting staff in all of the remaining states. “We view this as a whole body of states,” he said.
Plouffe also tried to knock some air out of the buzz in recent days about possible mail-in primaries in Michigan and Florida to redo primaries held early this year in violation of party rules.
He said there are “real questions” about the logistics of mail-in voting and suggested such efforts are part of a “Clinton production” to try to gain some ground against Obama in a way that is “desperate” and “self-serving.”
“We hope this gets resolved quickly, so there is some certainty,” Plouffe said, later adding that the “easiest” solution would be to seat delegates from the states in a 50-50 way that does not affect the delegate count.
Plouffe also disputed suggestions Obama is losing ground with white voters, as he has gained among African Americans.
“We have shown the ability to attract voters across all ethnic lines,” he said, noting that Obama has “carried the white vote in lots of states.”