Obama campaign details strategy for Oregon

Kari Chisholm

In the presidential race, will Oregon be a swing state? Or will Barack Obama soar to victory? In 2004, John Kerry won by 4% (about 76,000 votes). In 2000, Al Gore won by less than 1% (about 7000 votes).

On a conference call with media and bloggers yesterday, Senator Ron Wyden and Obama's Oregon campaign manager Rob Hill outlined the strategy for victory. These are my notes - all comments are paraphrased.

Senator Wyden led the way and talked about the campaign message.

Wyden: There are three reasons Senator Obama is going to win in Oregon.

#1. Unprecedented numbers of Republicans saying Senator Obama is their kind of leader. He has a strong focus on change vs. more of the same, which is what we'll get with Senator McCain.

#2. Obama's life story is a lot like those of many regular Oregonians - single parents and grandparents, raising kids on food stamps, struggling to overcome steep odds.

#3. If the candidate has a significant grassroots advantage, they're going to do very well. No question there is a lot more excitement about Obama than McCain. Unprecedented grassroots mobilization, the size and scope of which our state has never seen before.

Rob Hill then detailed the infrastructure in place.

Hill: The organizing plan is based on neighbor-to-neighbor outreach teams. 150 neighborhood action teams; running their own canvasses and phone banks. Teams are fully trained on all the tools - technology, message, media monitoring, etc. 44 teams in place (with 550+ trained team members), plus over 400 self-organized teams through Oregon.BarackObama.com. Over 5000 people have participated in events organized through website SINCE the primary. Nine offices around the state. There are 700,000 unregistered-but-eligible voters in Oregon.

At that point, they jumped into questions from the media. On the jump...

Brad Cain, AP: Expect to see Barack Obama in Oregon this fall?

Rob Hill: Too early to talk about the post-convention schedule.

Jeff Mapes, Oregonian: Of the 700,000+ eligible but unregistered voters, what's realistic?

RH: Remains to be seen. In the primary, we registered 30,000 new voters in one month. Organically, around 50,000 or so new registrants on top of that. So, we're expecting strong results.

Mapes: How does the voter registration effort vary from 2004?

RH: In 2004, a lot of voter reg happened through outside groups, 527s. The excitement that Obama creates out there allows us to focus on base vote outreach. We can take a much larger share than we even attempted in 2004.

Ron Wyden: I've been especially pleased in Senator Obama's interest in Oregon. Co-sponsor of county payments, vote-by-mail, willing to allow state involvement on the LNG issue.

Chris Lehman, OPB: How do you make sure all these grassroots people stay on message?

Hill: We keep in touch through the website, doing the training on the message components. Ask them to talk about their own reasons for supporting Obama.

Harry Esteve, Oregonian: How will it affect the Senate race?

Wyden: This will be a huge help for our candidates up and down the ballot. Our candidates are committed to Senator Obama's vision - health care, less foreign oil, resolve crisis in Iraq. Those positions are very much in line with Speaker Merkley, and our new registered voters will come out and support Senator Obama's vision. I'm an enthusiastic supporter of Speaker Merkley. He shares my views and Senator Obama's key positions. We need to bring about change in America. I'll be campaigning aggressively for Speaker Merkley and when we elect Barack Obama President of the United States, and we need the votes to carry out his program, I don't want us to be frustrated in carrying out the program. Merkley will be a great vote to carry that out.

Phil Wright, East Oregonian: Your effort is well-organized, well-funded. How does that go hand-in-hand with grassroots? How much is the campaign spending in Oregon on organization?

Hill: Our major expenses are organizational in nature. Nine offices, dozens of staff, 70 organizing fellows. We're working to empower the grassroots level. Not a lot of mail, consultants, paid phones. But it's too early to determine what the overall expenditures will be.

James Sinks, Bend Bulletin: Is the Oregon strategy different than the battleground states? Will you change anything if the polling changes?

Hill: Oregon is a battleground state and we intend to win. So our strategy is the same. These things will get closer. We won't panic if it happens. Won't take anything for granted. We will run a strong outreach and communications program.

Sink: Yes, but what's different in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania?

Hill: Strategy is very similar. Registering voters is the key right now.

Mapes: Why do you think Obama is doing better in Oregon than many other states? Do you have any advice here locally for how Obama should tailor his message?

Wyden: We were one of the first to say we're not going to go along any longer with this slash and burn politics. Oregon rejected the Bush administration politics very early on. Senator Obama is a huge breath of fresh air. I'm just really amazed at the number of former Republicans who are going to support Obama as a force for change. He zeroed in on some of these issues that people ask about at town hall meetings. Senator Obama made it clear he'll spend the time to get into the nuts and bolts of the issues that Oregonians care about. I am convinced that as soon as Senator Obama gets as well-known as he is in Oregon, he'll see the same success elsewhere.

Thank you everyone.

By Kari Chisholm Aug. 19, 2008