Based on two stories out today, it’s fairly clear that the Obama campaign isn’t resting after a long primary battle against Hillary Clinton.
First, the campaign is taking the offense by sending out thousands of volunteers to work in battleground states between now and the convention:
CHICAGO, June 12 — Moving to harness the grass-roots energy that helped win the Democratic nomination, Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign will deploy 3,600 volunteers in 17 states this weekend, each committed to six consecutive weeks of full-time political work.
The project, launched two months before the senator from Illinois became the presumptive nominee, is a measure of his determination to out-organize Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in states that could swing a close election.
The campaign put out word in April about “Obama Organizing Fellowships,” an approach that went well beyond the “y’all come” model of luring volunteers with free doughnuts for two-hour canvassing stints. Supporters were required to answer essay questions, supply references and go through a telephone interview with campaign staff members.
It’s unclear exactly what these volunteers will be doing but, considering the countless tasks that need to be done in getting a Presidential campaign up and running, there’s no question that they’ll be put to good use and that, if it works, this could give the Obama campaign a significant advantage over McCain when it comes to organizations that are ready to go come Labor Day.
Meanwhile, on the defensive side, the Obama campaign has also implemented a task force aimed specifically at countering the myriad of rumors that have spread about the candidate since the campaign started:
KAUKAUNA, Wis. — Confronted with one of the trickiest problems in politics — when to ignore rumors and misrepresentations and when to risk giving them greater visibility by rebutting them — Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign began to push back aggressively on Thursday against what it said were unfounded and potentially damaging reports.
Mr. Obama’s campaign unveiled a new Web site on which it listed five sets of rumors about Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, along with responses intended to establish that they are baseless and false.
The Obama campaign encouraged supporters to read each rumor and the corresponding facts debunking it, and then to e-mail the entries to their entire address books.
By Thursday evening, more than 20,000 people had registered at the site, and more than 18,000 e-mail messages were sent, said a spokesman, Tommy Vietor.
“The Obama campaign isn’t going to let dishonest smears spread across the Internet unanswered,” Mr. Vietor said in a statement. “Whenever challenged with these lies, we will aggressively push back with the truth and help our supporters debunk the false rumors floating around the Internet.”
Given the pervasive nature of some of these Internet rumors, combating them up-front and rapidly strikes me as a smart strategy. Already, the website has responded to rumors ranging from the belief that Obama is a secret Muslim, to the apparently non-existent Michelle Obama “Whitey” tape, to the most recent absurd rumor that the Obama campaign was hiding the candidate’s birth certificate either because his real middle name is “Muhammed” or because he wasn’t really born in the United States.
All of these are false, of course, and while people will continue to believe them if they choose to, the speed with which the campaign is now able to address such smears will make them far more difficult to stick.
Again, a smart political move regardless of what you think of the candidate’s ideas.
