Kerry Campaign Shifts Its Focus to Southwest

[Dover]

THE RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE

Kerry Campaign Shifts Its Focus to Southwest -
Except for Florida, Democrats have all but given up on the South, an unprecedented move.

By Ronald Brownstein, Times Staff Writer


LAS VEGAS — When John Kerry arrives in Reno today for his sixth visit to Nevada this year, he will underscore a dramatic shift in the geography of the race for the White House.

Kerry, in a virtually unprecedented move for a Democrat, is relying more on the West than the South in his plan to reach the 270 electoral votes needed for victory.

Once the party of the "Solid South," Democrats this year are not actively contesting any state in the region except Florida in the presidential campaign. Instead, Kerry has shifted his attention west, mounting major efforts in Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and, at one point, Arizona.

"In the 1980s and the 1990s, the Holy Grail was to make the Democratic Party competitive in the South again," said Simon Rosenberg, president of the New Democratic Network, a political action committee that supports centrist party officials. "Now the Southwest is a vital, new part of the Democratic strategy."

This shift may reflect equal parts opportunity and weakness...cont'd

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/2004/la-na-southwest22oct22,1,5078707.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[RoyGBiv]

1. I like the implications ...

Kerry probably wouldn't be going there just yet if he didn't feel it important to do so, and the only way it is important is if he is reasonably hopeful he has the states he needs elsewhere.

I do, however, wish he'd put a little more energy in Virginia. There's a Southern state that could be swung with the right kind of effort. Some polls have it close to if not within the margin of error.

[VegasWolf]

2. We're planning to do volunteer work at the Kerry rally.

New Information Shows Bush Indecisive, Paranoid, Delusional

[johnnyrocket]

3. Screw the south! They've botched up this country enough...

sorry southerners, but I'm pretty pissed at the ignorant southern vote dominating our country with the GOP clan they send up to Washington. It's a sad group of ignoramuses and crooks.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

4. Is Kerry and Edwards going to be a 2 - pronged attack? Maybe

Edwards could be spared for a couple appearances like VA, AR, NC, TN?

Pretty please?

[MGKrebs]

5. I like to think that Kerry is not working the South is because

he knows we will TAKE CARE OF IT FOR HIM!

OK. Maybe I'm a little overly optimistic.