I just got off a conference call with Barack Obama’s Campaign Manager

Filed in National by on January 28, 2008

I got on a few minutes late but here is the gist:

The block quote his not verbatim, but the sense of what was being said as best as I could get it down.

David Plouffe: (The campaign in Delaware) is the kind of grassroots movement that is happening in the rest of the country for Obama. 1,000’s of doors have been knocked on here. Michele Obama coming in and a paid staff, but a paid staff is just in place to help organize the existing networks.

In Delaware Obama is also blessed to have strong political support. Markell, Carney, Matt Denn, Ted Blunt all helping to get the word out and providing strong support to the volunteer effort.

Delaware is going to be an important state. This is a historic kind of election and every delegate is going to count. Delaware should be good for Obama since he has done very well in both rural and urban areas of Iowa, SC and Nevada. Which speaks to Obama’s broad appeal.

Obama will be a much stronger general election candidate. He will put many more states in play. He was the most requested speaker for Dems running in Red and purple states last election. He will break down the Red/blue stagnation that has set in (Un-spoken but clearly he was talking about Clinton)

Therefore he will help down ballot candidates There will not be a Democratic “no fly zone.” (Again. Unspoken was the second part – “as there might be with another potential democratic nominee.” Clinton will keep the politics of division going.)

Big down ticket Democratic victories are important because what has to happen after the election. We can’t have the continuing armed camps approach with a fractured country (that Clinton would continue)

The first question was from somebody at WILM: I forget what he asked.

Then I got to ask a question: “This is Jason Scott form Delaware Liberal…How do you see the Feb 5th map breaking down? Where is Obama strong and where does he have to do better that anticipated?”

We are running hard everywhere. We are not cherry picking some states and saying we can win here but not here. Everyplace with delegates is important. This could be a situation where we get through February and it is not yet clear. We plan on getting delegates in even in NY Mrs. Clinton’s home state, and those delegates will matter.

Then Randall Chase form Associated Press asked a question: “You said that Obama will do well with independents and moderate Republicans. Do you see the Ted Kennedy endorsement chasing some of those people away?”

“No.” There was some expaination but basically he just said no.

Then Celia asked a question, and this is funny – she had to banter a bit with the Campaign Director “This is Celia Cohen from Delaware Grapevine. Hi David How are you? It has been a while.”

Sheesh. Such an insider. Celia why do you have to be such a parody of youself?

Anyway her question was actually surprisingly good.

“Will Joe Biden’s name still appearing on the ballot affect anything?’

I don’t think so. We think 97% of the vote will be split between people still in the race.

That was pretty much it.

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Jason330 is a deep cover double agent working for the GOP. Don't tell anybody.

Comments (13)

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  1. John Feroce says:
    January 28, 2008 at 2:24 pm

    So, that’s it.

    AP asks a serious quetion about the Ted Kennedy impact and he accepts a “no”.

    Dream on.

    A. Ted Kennedy IS the establishment, which Obama says he wants to get away from

    B. He’s probably one of the top 5 most polarizing Ds on the planet

    If Obama was smart he would have limited is Kennedy endorsement to Caroline and politely ask the rest to go into hiding until after the general.

  2. donviti says:
    January 28, 2008 at 2:32 pm

    where’s the part about the hottest blogger stumping for Obama?

    dude!

  3. Von Cracker says:
    January 28, 2008 at 2:43 pm

    He’s only polarizing to the ones who want him to be.

    Come on now…

  4. jason330 says:
    January 28, 2008 at 3:06 pm

    I thought that Kennedy thing was a dumb question. Mine was 10 on a scale of 1 to 10 with ten being a great question.

  5. Brian says:
    January 28, 2008 at 3:37 pm

    I think John has a point here. Big endorsements this early may work against Obama. Also, someone with the campaign please ask what Sen. Obama plans to change….so we know what he means by the word. What is the change we are buying into. I can say we are going to make the US the greatest in the world, but not have any idea how to do it and rely on my advisors. I would like to hear Sen. Obama begin to address specifics now. Concrete stuff.

    No disrespect to any of your guys for asking….

  6. jason330 says:
    January 28, 2008 at 3:46 pm

    Thge big change that resonates for me is something that you might find to esoteric.

    It is Obama’s desire to rehabilitate our sense of what it means to be America and what it means to be American.

    I think we’ve lost a great deal because of Bush – the main thing being a shared sense of national purpose.

    Bush and Cheney made a determined effort to split the country up into warring factions and (to me) changing that must be job one for the next President.

  7. Brian says:
    January 28, 2008 at 4:00 pm

    I agree.

    Senator Wexler calls it the state of the Disunion.

    But in order to bring the country together we need to make structural changes in foreign and domestic policy, and as of today Sen. Obama has Zbignew Brezneski working for him as a foreign policy advisor. That concerns me. Brezneski wrote a book called the “great chess board” on policy in the middle east that I had to study in college – it is right out of Karl Haushoffer’s real politik school. The one that gave birth to the neo-conservatives like Brezneski. Can you recommend that he appoint people who are not neo-conservative think-tank gurus to foreign policy posititions?

    Second, we need to get some of the 700 bases closed. We are going to have a terrible time meeting the budget obligations with 700 military bases out there and the value of the dollar declining at 10% since January 1.

    Finally, please ask them for no attacks on Iran and change the threatening tone. We need to break out of the confrontational box as soon as possible. If we attack Iran, our oil is going up to over $300.00 per barrell and Delaware is going to lose many, many jobs.

    I have worked on these issues for a long time. So I want to see real change, I hope Sen. Obama can do that, it would change things dramatically.

    Ok Jason, thanks for listening I would love to see Sen. Obama change this. Can you ask his campaign to address these issues please?

  8. Pandora says:
    January 28, 2008 at 4:19 pm

    Jason,

    I agree with you. Change for me is something bigger than policy. For years we’ve seen the pendulum swing from one policy to another, but this wasn’t change.

    To me Obama is change. Honestly, whenever that man speaks I want to jump to my feet and cheer. His message is just so inclusive. My best friend is a HUGE republican — it keeps the dinner conversations lively! — and is currently supporting Mitt — Don’t ask, I can’t even begin to explain — but she really likes Obama.

    Most intersting: She says that she would never vote for Hillary, but would vote for Obama if Mitt crashes and burns.

    And this is my point. Obama’s message of change is reaching — to some extent — across party lines. Not Republican’s first choice, but definately not their last.

    Electable??? My confidence grows daily.

  9. Selander says:
    January 28, 2008 at 6:31 pm

    Plouffe ran Oberly’s race against Roth in 1994, when Celia was one of the political reporters at the NJ.

  10. Brian says:
    January 28, 2008 at 7:47 pm

    “I agree with you. Change for me is something bigger than policy. For years we’ve seen the pendulum swing from one policy to another, but this wasn’t change.”

    Pandora,

    Sorry for the misspellings in the above post. I was writing two things at once!

    The way I see it. There are two things at stake here, one is a vision the other is a policy realignment to ensure our form of government persists. We have moved into dnagerous territory without many limits on executive authority and I think that course needs to be reversed. Obama certainly could do this, and I would love to hear how he plans to do this in detail. What are the speicific pieces of legislation and executive orders that need to be revoked? There are quite a few. I would love to see a policy position from Sen. Obama’s staff on them.

  11. jason330 says:
    January 28, 2008 at 8:29 pm

    Selander,

    celia also knows that name of Eugene Bookhammer’s dog.

    Brian,

    I’ll start posting on actual Obama policies. I know that many people don’t like Zbignew Brezneski, but he is just an advisor at this point – not the secretary of defense.

  12. Brian says:
    January 28, 2008 at 8:47 pm

    Hi Jason,

    The reason I express this concern is becuase I studied with one of his students. And when we read his thinking on foreign relations and his endorsement of Irving Kristol’s work, my mouth almost hit the floor.

    Those two thinkers are the anti-Jeffersonians and to my mind reflect the negation of American Republicanism. (not the GOP platform kind) and I know Democrats have a great tradition of opposing these policies. I would hate to see the swarm of advisors give him that kind of advice.

    I hope you do not take my question the wrong way. I would love to see us move away from the “Johnsonesque” policies Brezneski has for party. I was reading about them a few days ago and just discovered he is advising Sen. Obama. That gives me cause for concern. I can’t wait to see the posts. Thanks.

  13. disbelief says:
    January 29, 2008 at 8:33 am

    Jason’s support of Obama was reached at a cost; the DL blog had to offer a consolation to Hillary.

    The good news? She accepted the consolation.

    The bad news? DV; look in the mirror to see the consolation prize. Thanks for taking a hit for the team.

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