Time Magazine: Obama's Problem - He is drawing too big of crowds

[TeamJordan23]

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1646836,00.html

Barack Obama's People Problem
Wednesday, Jul. 25, 2007
By Jay Newton-Small/Sunapee

The Sunapee event, on July 19, was meant to be one of a more intimate series of gatherings that the Obama campaign has been trying to pull off in recent weeks. But the lure of Obama drew more than 500 people, many of whom drove for more than three hours from neighboring Massachusetts to this hamlet of 3,000. The candidate has proven he can draw rock-star-like crowds across the country. But he is having trouble limiting audiences so that he can focus on what is known as "retail" campaigning, in which candidates meet voters in calmer settings and spend more time answering their questions.

Obama's popularity has generated ample buzz, celebrity endorsements, and record numbers of donations — valuable assets for any campaign. His challenge now is to build relationships with voters in early primary states without tripping over his greatest strength: his own celebrity.

"It's frustrating to him — typically, the events are large," David Axelrod, Obama's top strategist, said the next day as Obama spent an hour shaking hands and working the rope line after a town hall meeting in Manchester. "When he was running for Senate, he thrived on that. We'd go down south and there'd be 12 people in a VFW hall. He really enjoyed that interaction." Now, Obama rarely gets the opportunity to meet people in such relaxed settings. "It's exhilarating to get crowds like this," continued Axelrod, gesturing to the Manchester crowd of more than 650, "but we are trying to mix it up a little and get smaller groups as well, so that the nature of the interaction is more personal."

With his intense schedule, sometimes making six stops per day on the weekends, Obama is relatively parsimonious about his time. In the nearly two-dozen Obama events in nine states that I've been to, I have never seen him stay longer than 90 minutes from entrance to exit. Obama will never be the underdog who has hours to sit at a house party until every last question is answered. And the traveling circus that surrounds him — the pack of national press, a grueling fundraising pace, and Secret Service protection — all serve as hurdles to making those personal connections.

"We have a lot of ground to cover here because Barack Obama is not a fixture in the national political scene," Axelrod said. "Out in the country, we need to touch as many people as we possibly can." Perhaps that is why Obama seems so keen to hear other people's stories when he takes questions. At the Manchester town hall, he asked a woman to tell the crowd about her struggle with illness and healthcare coverage. At an ice cream social in Berlin, N.H., over Memorial Day weekend, he did the same, urging another woman to talk about her time volunteering.

[frazzled]

1. It is sort of a problem ...

If you've ever worked the campaigns in Iowa and New Hampshire, you know that it's that one-on-one that counts with people there. A solution to his campaign could be to schedule some events at smaller venues--a VFW hall, and, yes, a backyard house party. Believe me, the fire marshalls will be there and ensure that the space limits are not exceeded. I saw many people turned away at campaign events in New Hampshire during the 2004 primaries. It simply encourges people to get there early to ensure a spot.

I don't think large-scale rallies alone are good politicking in primaries. You may reach a lot of people at once, but working the ropes is not sufficient. These kinds of events need to be interspersed with others that are more intimate. I really do think his campaign needs to think about this.

[TeamJordan23]

2. Yeah, I agree. nm