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Obama 'Making It A Contest'

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The Associated Press

Published: July 28, 2008

CHICAGO - With 100 days remaining in the race for the White House, Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois said that he has succeeded in expanding the electoral map in his race against Arizona Sen. John McCain, principally in southern and southwestern states but also in Montana and North Dakota.

"It doesn't mean we're going to win all those states, but at least we're making it a contest and giving voters something to choose from," Obama said in an interview aboard his campaign jet on the way back from an overseas trip.

"Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia are all states where we are competitive," he said, adding he is going "toe to toe" with McCain in New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada.

With little pause after his trip to two war zones, the Middle East and Europe, Obama resumes campaigning later this week in the swing states with stops in Missouri and Iowa as well as a fundraising visit to Texas.

A month before the Democratic National Convention opens, he declined to say whether he has personally interviewed potential vice presidential candidates. "I'm not going to discuss it," he said.

On NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, he expanded in only the most general terms, saying, "I want somebody who I'm compatible with, who I can work with, who has a shared vision, who certainly complements me in the sense that they provide a knowledge base or an area of, of expertise that can be useful."

Whatever the short-term impact of his trip, Obama told a group of minority journalists at a Unity conference that the longer-term impact will be positive.

"In terms of me governing, being an effective president, that trip was helpful, because I think I've established relationships and a certain bond of trust with key leaders around the world who have taken measure of my positions and how I operate and I think can come away with some confidence that this is somebody I can deal with," he said.

While Obama was overseas, his campaign announced additional staff in key states as the fall campaign approaches.

"So far at least we've been successful in places that nobody guessed would be successful," he said in The Associated Press interview.

"We have a big map that we're playing with. That's no accident. We said at the beginning of this campaign that one of the changes we'd like to make in our politics was breaking out of this red-blue state divide and going to places that maybe no one has gone to for awhile and trying to make the case for change," he said.

Obama holds a narrow lead over McCain in many national polls, but the presidency is won in a series of state-by-state races.

Of the states that Obama mentioned, Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Montana and North Dakota all gave their electoral votes, a total of 63, to President Bush both times he ran.

New Mexico, with five electoral votes, voted for Bush in 2004 after supporting Democrat Al Gore in 2000.

A total of 270 electoral votes is needed to win the White House.

Overall, Obama expressed satisfaction with the state of his campaign, citing a trip to five countries in as many days with numerous meetings and public events as evidence of its ability to "manage projects of importance with a lot of effectiveness."

He said a desire for change, coupled with his own presence on the ballot, should lead to a high-turnout election.

Obama also said attacks by Republicans and their allies in congressional elections in Louisiana and Mississippi in recent months had failed to sway the outcome.

"Obviously, those sort of attacks by association are going to be especially ineffective when directed at congressional candidates who don't know me very well," he said.

Democrats won both races, in part because of heavy black turnout, picking up seats that had long been in Republican hands.

Asked if be thought those two races mean Republicans must find a new strategy to defeat him, he said that he expects Republicans to target him this fall "full bore with their usual assortment of negative attacks ... I don't think anybody's got any illusion about that," he said.

OBAMA'S WORLD VIEW

In his first public appearance after his whirlwind overseas trip, Sen. Barack Obama on Sunday praised U.S. troops for reducing violence in Iraq, warned of worsening conditions in Afghanistan and said other nations are eager to see the United States work with them on mutual issues.

It is critical, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said, "that we project ourselves on the world stage with a sense of humility and a sense that we are listening. ... We are very clear about our own interests, but not so clear about other people's interests."

Obama's remarks came at the close of the Unity '08 convention, sponsored by a coalition of black, Asian, Hispanic and American Indian journalism organizations. His Republican counterpart, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, also was invited to speak but declined, citing schedule conflicts.

Los Angeles Times

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