So much for a 50-state Obama campaign. Now down to 46 max

Exactly 44 years after Lyndon B. Johnson became the last Democrat to capture the state of North Dakota in a presidential election, it looks like Barack Obama won't be the next.

The Associated Press reported this evening and an Obama spokeswoman confirmed that the Chicago-based campaign is pulling its 50-some staffers out of the heavily Republican state full of embittered small towns and shipping the workers east to Minnesota and Wisconsin, where the Democrat's prospects seem brighter and closer.

John Kerry did the best of recent Democrats there, getting 36% of the North Dakota vote in 2004 -- 3 percentage points more than Al Gore in 2000.

The abandonment of at least one Midwestern state by Obama comes as a new AP poll indicates that race could play a significant role in deciding a close national election. (See video.) Some experts

estimate the first African American candidate of a major party might be as much as 6 percentage points more ahead if he wasn't black.

Obama supporters hope that their months of work, 11 closing North Dakota field offices and widespread television advertising in the rural state may benefit down-ticket Democrats on Nov. 4. The Obama staff evacuation comes as early balloting is about to start there.

According to the AP, the McCain campaign has no staff or offices in North Dakota, another of those high Plains states where the livestock population far outnumbers the humans.

Few campaigns ever openly admit abandoning any state and some, like George W. Bush in 2000 and McCain this year, openly talk of competing in a state like California, as a feint to force their opposition to defend it unnecessarily.

Earlier, Obama halted television advertising in Georgia. Idaho was conceded a Democratic write-off early on, as is Alaska now, given the presence of its popular Republican Gov. Sarah Palin as the vice presidential running mate on the GOP ticket.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Mitchell in NY]

Hey, 46 is pretty good. Have you bothered counting the states that McCain has given up on? I believe it includes some place rather close to home, your home, a state that has 55 electoral votes.

“A Dozen Reasons Why McCain Won’t Win: Money-Back Guarantee”
http://msa4.wordpress.com/

[Politicus Finch]

How dare you describe Sarah Palin as a popular governor! Why, to read the lefty bloggerz and all the emails I am getting from my liberal friends, she is widely reviled and Alaska is up in arms at hpw her inclusion on the Repub ticket is affecting them. Surely she is being recalled by now? Surely? Surely? I am sure her approval rating has plummeted to, maybe 79%????

[Florida Rez]

Looks like the son of Democrat in the Tennessee state legislature was a part of Palin's e-mail being hacked (a felony, btw.) Coincidence that it just happened to come from a congressman's family? I think not. How many times does Obama have to be linked to criminal activity before people start looking seriously his past and his connections?

[Tony Howdle]

He's half black, half white. And if he happened to be green and purple, he'd still be a great man. It is tragic that some people can not see past the color of his skin.

I'm one of those Canadians that would give up my vote in our upcoming election to vote in the U.S. election. I have never even bothered to vote before, but I would vote for Obama.

For those of you for whom color matters, I wish you would wake up and realize that you have potentially the greatest leader in recent history willing to serve as the leader of the free world.

Tony H

[Bob]

Well, no big deal here. The state is lost so why spend time there. I am always stunned though how a state like North Dakota can vote against its own interests.

[mgultch]

This race should be about ideas, not about race. But it is know wonder these things are still embedded in our politics with ageism and sexism just as prevalent.

http;//www.boppoll.com

Obama '08

[Charlie J. Brown]

The first significant decision that any presidential candidate makes is that of a running mate for vice president.

Obama could have chosen Hillary Clinton - a GOOD choice or anyone else - not as good a choice.

Mc Cain chose Palin - a good choice or anyone else - a bad choice.

First choice - good judgment - John Mc Cain.

Who do you want to lead this country?

[John]

Obama himself said "I've been now in 57 states with one left to go" - Possibly he meant Islamic Countries when he made that slip of the tongue (see UTube video on this) - because there are 57 of them.

[Jill Again]

Sad to think that in 2008 we can have a racist bias in any state. Sad but true.

[Mally]

Blaming racism is the best they can do to explain why Obama isn't doing better? These are the same "experts" who claimed Bush was going to easily lose in the last election, based on exit polls.....but people buy into this arrogant mentality that any time Obama does poorly in an agriculture state it has to be racism, because "you have to be stupid not to vote for Obama". Total arrogance! What a childish way to blow off your opponents instead of engaging them in intellectual debate. Then again, liberals have a track record of not debating well and in no time, resorting to personal attacks when they are losing.

[keller]

Funny what a prescribed story line will do to the actual story. No, Obama isn't going to contest every state. But the game's still being played on the Republican side of the field. THAT'S the story. So instead of the 20 yard line, Obama's at the 30.

[Brian Altmeyer]

People are people, and it's pointless to judge them. Some people are invariably stupid and ignorant, and they inevitably vote Republican - this is simply a fact of life. There's no point complaining about it, and Barack Obama doesn't wring his hands about how things are - he simply deals with them. That's why he's the next President of the United States, racism or not. Merry Christmas, America - you're going to get a real President for the first time in nearly half a century.

[mo]

race as an issue does not suprise me, it doe not take a rocket scientist to figure this election, I would not care if he was purple with a pink tu-tu, issues are very important for me so Obama has my vote, Mc cain should stop repackaging old goods. Enough Already!!!

[Bill in San Francisco]

Mgultch, Sarah Palin might be a great choice for getting McCain elected, but she'd be a terrible President, so she's not a good choice for VP either. I don't see that as good-for-the-country judgement, but it might be good for McCain. Lieberman would have been a far better VP or President and might have been a good enough getting-elected choice; too bad Rove wouldn't let McCain pick him.

Hillary? Too many people in both major parties passionately her, and whether it's for good reasons or bad, it would kill Obama's election, just as McCain would lose if he'd picked Romney or Giuliani or Dick Cheney as his VP. Biden's a bit dull sometimes, but he'd be a great VP.

[NBrown]

Funny how this article is starts out addressing Obama's campaign retreat from North Dakota and then morphs into an expose of how he would be farther ahead if there weren't so many bigots out there.
North Dakota was never "in play"....it addresses something of an amateurish political outlook by Obama to allocate money to a state that hadn't been carried in over forty years by the democrats. And since the bigoted six percent was not identified as Republican or Democrats...were are going to have to assume it is both

[Raven Raving]

I am in contact with friends who insist, this late in the game, that all the lies about Obama that have been de-bunked a million times are true. Sigh.
Palin is touring the country with a script and she won't take questions, but that doesn't raise any eyebrows.
Palin is running for VP, and people act like it's just a short wait until she'd president. (shudder)
So racism is alive and well in America. Gee, what a shock.

[Mark]

Florida Rez, your comment is illogical. Please explain how the son of a Congressman in Tennessee has anything to do with Obama.

If anything, McCain/Palin is getting an easy ride here. I can only imagine the reaction if it was Obama with a pregnant, unmarried, teenage daughter, or if Obama had dumped his first wife, or if Obama had graduated at the bottom of his class... I could go on, but I've made my point.

[Nick in Washington State]

It seems like it's ok for African Americans to vote for Obama simply because he is Black, but not ok for European Americans to vote against him because he is Black.

Racism works both ways, not just one.

I supported Hillary Clinton and and am not voting for Obama. I have serious doubts in his ability to be a President for all of America.

[Vic Arpeggio]

My only bias is against idiots. Two of whom, John "Deregulate The Economy" McCain and Sarah "I Can See Russia From Here" Palin, happen to be on the Republican ticket.

[Sternberg]

If he weren't black, we would have never heard his name.
Other than that, he is just clean and articulate, with not much else to recomend him.

[David Blackburn]

If we elect another Republican after the mess that's been created with Reaganomics, we deserve a depression. Oh, except for the rich.

[Greg Smith]

As the owner/manager of Idaho's premier marketing/polling research and consulting firm, I can tell you that Idaho, if not already, should definitely be one of those four non-focused states for the Obama campaign.

Greg

Gregory P. Smith
Greg Smith & Associates
Boise, Idaho
gregsm@quickidaho.com

[louise]

CNN & MSNBC PLEASE EXPLAIN TO AMERICAN PUBLIC! WHY ITS RACIST WHEN WHITE VOTERS DO NOT AGREE OR SUPPORT THE INEXPERIENCED MEDIA MADE OBAMA, BUT IT’S NOT RACISM WHEN 90% PLUS BLACK VOTERS ARE ONLY SUPPORTING THE BLACK CANDIDATE? LIKE OPRAH ETC…
Barack Obama privately tried to persuade Iraqi political leaders to stall an agreement on scaling back American troops in Iraq while publicly campaigning for a speedy withdrawal, Obama’s campaign is not a train wreck; it’s Chernobyl.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKqHFk-3yQM
One of CNN's leading Obama sychophants, Candy Crowley, let the cat out of the Obama bag, when she told viewers that the Obama campaign had wanted horrific Wall Street headlines to help their campaign. Crowley, and fellow Obama sychophant David Gergen, were extolling the virtues of bad economic news for the Obama campaign. Of course, no one would expect CNN to actually deal with the issue of who or what party is responsible for the economy. No, their template is the economy is horrible, we are going to blame Bush and McCain and Obama will benefit. The Drudge Report had this story on its site this morning, but realized how bad this is for the Obama campaign. It's beyond audacious that we have one candidate for President who is full of hope. Hope that the economy is so bad, that he can win an election because of it. The conservative internet has its work cut out.
The mainstream media has frankly put the security of our great country at risk with an Obama coronation media like CNN & MSNBC is the only way Obama managed to steal the Dem nom. It’s extremely concerning that so many Americans could care less about who their candidate really is?? simply amazing and frankly scarey.

PLEASE WATCH AND SHARE WITH EVERYONE ASAP

"The Last 100 Days"
Hon. James David Manning, PhD.

www.atlah.org/broadcast/ndnr07-28-08.html

[Ron]

"Some experts estimate the first African American candidate of a major party might be as much as 6 percentage points more ahead if he wasn't black."

Typical liberal reporting. What experts? How do they figure this? This is an example of a race baiting comment. A statement that has NO merit and nothing in the article to back it up. Furthermore, I don't believe it! Was John Kerry up by 6 points? How about Al Gore?

[mdenis46]

I hear Kentucky's next, that Obama $ has been pulled out of the state. Won't stop me for voting for him though. Racism is deep but not obvioius.