The DeKalb County Republican Party chairman, a long-time John McCain backer, said this week that the Republican’s campaign has left Georgia to chance.
But while Jamie Sibold and others worry McCain has taken the state for granted, campaign leaders insist that all is well, and that Georgia will remain comfortably red.
Meanwhile, Barack Obama’s Georgia operation is geared up for the stretch run, but whether the Democratic nominee puts more of his considerable resources here remains to be seen.
Two weeks out and here’s the state of the race in Georgia: McCain enjoys a lead ranging from a high of 6 percentage points to a low of 2, according to the past week’s worth of polls. Both campaigns are focused on the ground game, as early voting continues until next Friday. Turnout so far has been heavy, with a disproportionate number of votes from African-Americans, who tend to vote Democrat. One poll showed Obama with a double-digit lead among early voters.
Obama has spent millions in the state on advertising, offices and staff and has nearly 5,000 trained volunteers. McCain has spent considerably less and has no offices or paid staff. The size of his volunteer army is unknown.
There have been signs that Obama wants to target Georgia again, more than a month after ending a $2 million advertising campaign in the state. With polls showing the race here tightening, Obama national campaign chairman David Plouffe told supporters this week that “we’re always on the lookout for expansion,” after specifically mentioning Georgia.
Obama himself e-mailed supporters Monday in a last fund-raising plea before final campaign finance reports are due at midnight Thursday.
“This Friday, we’re making the very last, hard decisions about allocating our resources,” Obama wrote. “And it will all come down to where we stand financially on Thursday at midnight. … I’d like to fight for voters in every corner of the country. But the reality is that we need to focus and redouble our efforts for the final push.”
Whether a fat bank account translates into a Georgia push is unclear, and the campaign will say little about its final plans.
Little, too, is known about McCain’s plans. His campaign spokesmen will not talk on the record about what the final push will look like here, or whether they would change tactics if Obama puts more resources in Georgia.
That lack of visible planning worries Sibold, who backed McCain in 2000 and ran a phone bank for the campaign during the crucial New Hampshire primary this year. He said he fears too many people in McCain’s campaign aren’t putting the candidate’s best interests first.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/10/21/mccain_obama_georgia.html
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