August 22, 2007

OBAMA: Doubling Down South

TPM Cafe's Eric Kleefeld looks at '00 Census data and '04 exit polling from the deep south and casts doubt on Barack Obama's claim that he can move southern states into the Dem column by increasing black turnout. Crunching the numbers Kleefeld concludes:

For Obama's prescription to work out without a significant jump in the Dems' share of the white vote, the black turnouts would not just have to increase significantly. They would have to double. That strikes us as a far-fetched possibility - especially when you consider that a majority of the voting-age population already turned out in these same states in 2004, so a doubling might not even be mathematically possible.

In other Obama blogging, reaction to Michelle Obama's "if you can't run your own house, you can't run the White House" comments were mixed. The Left Coaster's John Patric and Talk Left's Jeralyn Merritt both saw a swipe at Hillary Clinton. From Merritt: "I thought playing the "family values" card was a Republican strategy. ... I don't appreciate Obama (or his wife's) personal snipes at fellow Democrats."

TPM Cafe's Greg Sargent notes Obama camp denials but concludes: "[I]t's unclear why you'd automatically see the comments in this case as a reference to Hillary. Andrew Sullivan on the other hand, thinks the empress is well clothed.

Posted by Conn Carroll at August 22, 2007 12:38 PM