BARACK OBAMA’S team demonstrated its confidence of victory by yesterday announcing it is to extend its campaign deep into the Republican heartland, even into John McCain’s home state of Arizona.
While warning against complacency, Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe yesterday told reporters he was “thrilled” by the support for the Democratic candidate among early voters.
“The die is being cast as we speak,” he said. “We think we have built up an advantage in all the states, so that Senator McCain on election day is not just going to have to carry the day, but carry it convincingly.”
But the McCain camp, defiant of Mr Obama’s poll leads and the US media, which has all but written him off, claimed Mr McCain was on the verge of a surprise result.
“We’re pretty jazzed up about what we’re seeing,” his campaign manager Rick Davis said. “We are witnessing, I believe, one of the greatest comebacks since John McCain won the primary.”
With strong Democratic turnout in early voting, Mr Obama’s team is to advertise in Arizona for the first time, and is putting fresh resources into Georgia and North Dakota.
The decision to target Arizona may be designed to try to spook Mr McCain, who has not campaigned in his home state, assuming it was solid. Florida, one of the states that has decided past elections, remains too close to call.
Mr Plouffe described the Obama campaign as building to a crescendo this weekend, with 1.4 million volunteers in 770 offices.
Early voting figures have raised their hopes of taking Georgia, which has been a no-go area for Democrats. Mr Obama is due to visit eight states in a final burst of campaigning before election day, and Al Gore yesterday made an emotional return to Florida, where his hopes for the White House evaporated in 2000.
The McCain camp, meanwhile, is diverting resources to a last-minute advertising blitz. Mike DuHaime, a McCain adviser, said canvassers had contacted 5.3 million potential voters over the last week, either by phone or in person, compared with 1.9 million at the same stage in 2004.
DuHaime disputed a poll in the New York Times suggesting Mr McCain’s running-mate Sarah Palin was a drag on his campaign – with 59 per cent saying she was not ready to be president. He said she had attracted 20,000 to a rally on Thursday, in contrast with 800 for Obama’s running-mate Joe Biden.
But a long-time McCain ally and former Republican cabinet member, Lawrence Eagleburger, speaking on radio on Thursday, was categorical in saying Mrs Palin was not up for the job. – (Guardian service)