With barely a fortnight to go before the November 4 election, and the Republican John McCain almost having conceded Michigan, Democratic Barack Obama is moving some of his paid Michigan staffers to other battleground states - Virginia, Colorado, North Carolina, Indiana and Florida.
Though the number of staffers thus moved has not been disclosed, Obama campaign spokesman Brent Colburn said in Michigan: “The bottom line is that the Obama campaign remains committed to Michigan, with over 60 offices open across the state and hundreds of staff members on the ground who will be working nonstop over the next three weeks to make sure that Barack Obama and Democrats up and down the ticket win on Election Day.”
The decision by the Obama campaign comes almost two weeks after McCain’s campaign told Republican Party officials in Michigan that it was pulling paid staff members out of the state and ceasing to run TV commercials, as polls showed Obama with a double-digit lead.
Lansing public relations and marketing consultant, Kelly Rossman-McKinney, said: “It’s clearly not a neck-and-neck race in Michigan, and John McCain knew that. It’s like staying in the ring when you’ve already knocked out your opponent.”
Obama will continue to have dozens of offices open in the state, with a second one opening this weekend in Detroit, and about 200 paid staffers in Michigan. It was not immediately clear if the decision of moving some staffers would also be accompanied by a pullback in advertising.
David Bonior, a former congressman from Mt. Clemens who is working with the Obama campaign after running John Edwards’ failed presidential run this year, said even if Obama does pull staffers out, “the volunteer base is so huge,” it probably wouldn’t hurt.
Political observers said they were surprised it took Obama so long to make the move. They opine that states are ‘winner-take-all’, so there’s no benefit to winning by a larger margin, but a huge benefit to winning by a hair!
.jpg)