Barack Obama,  Bill Clinton,  Hillary Clinton,  John McCain,  President 2008

Barack Obama Watch: Writing Off the White Working Class Vote Part Two

April 24, 2008 /

David Axelrod, Chief Obama Campaign Strategist, Photo courtesy of The Page

Jim Geraghy is reporting that Bill Clinton is already taking a swing at David Axelrod’s comments yesterday about writing off the white working class.

Expect Team Hillary to make a big, big deal out of this: David Axelrod, chief strategist for the Obama campaign, tells NPR, “The white working class has gone to the Republican nominee for many elections, going back even to the Clinton years. This is not new that Democratic candidates don’t rely solely on those votes.”

Bill Clinton yesterday:

  • “I am sorry I am a little late, as you might imagine I got in a little late from Pennsylvania last night. But I just wanna say a couple of words about that. Hillary was outspent on television, three to one by almost 8 million dollars. And she won anyways, by 10 points. She carried, 61 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties because of people like you and places like this,” said Clinton as he greeted the crowd that had gathered on a local baseball diamond.
  • “And today her opponent’s campaign strategist said, ‘well we don’t really need these working class people to win, half the time they vote for Republicans anyways. And I will tell you something, America needs you to win and therefore Hillary wants your support and I hope you will help her in this primary in North Carolina,” continued the former president.

Obama’s natural base of support are young, educated, affluent and black. He cannot win a general election with this coalition but CAN win the Democrat nomination and HAS by cherry-picking Democrat caucuses in small RED states.

The white working class Democrats will find a home with John McCain and the GOP after Obama clinches the Democrat nomination. And, the Clintons will help.

2012?

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Barack Obama Watch: Writing Off the White Working Class Vote