3:01 PM: Obama campaign says he's doing fine with blue collar workers
Barack Obama's national campaign manager David Plouffe disputed analysis that the Illinois senator doesn't perform well with blue collar voters in a conference call with state and national media today.
Asked whether Obama's decision to include campaign stops in Racine and Janesville was a response to the perception that he doesn't do as well with blue collar voters as his rival Hillary Clinton, Plouffe said Obama has scored well with voters of all incomes.
"We reject the notion that somehow we are not performing will with blue collar workers and workers in certain income levels," he said. "We think that our strength is growing, we have a base of supporters and we're growing to it."
Plouffe said the primary schedule allows Obama some time to spend campaigning in Wisconsin, as he was able to do in the early states of the primary season.
Gov. Jim Doyle, who joined Plouffe on the call, said he expects big receptions for Obama in Racine and Janesville, two communities with deep manufacturing bases. Doyle said Obama will hit themes of health care, education and job growth, which will strike a chord with voters there.
"These are things that really matter to people in Janesville and Racine," he said.
Both Plouffe and Doyle downplayed the momentum factor in Wisconsin. Plouffe said they handle the contests one day at a time.
"We did well, obviously, on Saturday and Sunday. But as far as we're concerned, that doesn't have much relevance as far as what happens tonight in the mid-Atlantic, and it's not going to have much impact in Wisconsin or Hawaii," he said.
Likewise, Gov. Jim Doyle said former President Bill Clinton campaigning for his wife in Wisconsin likely won't make much of a difference. Doyle said it "shouldn't come as any big surprise" to voters that Clinton's spouse is supporting her.
Clinton's campaign announced the former president would be in Milwaukee, Madison and La Crosse on Thursday.
"Any candidate would like a former president out campaigning for them," Doyle said. "But I also don't think it's going to make a whole lot of difference here. People are going to make their judgment based on Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
"I've endorsed Barack Obama, and I'm going to work hard for him. But I don't think whether I've endorsed is going to make a whole lot of difference for people making up their mind."
-- By Greg Bump
Labels: 2008 spring primary