海角大神

Denver 鈥� Barack Obama鈥檚 campaign Thursday brushed aside questions about its standing among traditional Democrats, saying it would win the presidential election by bringing new voters 鈥� particularly young people, blacks, Hispanics, and independents 鈥� to the polls this fall.

鈥淭here are millions more Democrats today than when this process started and that鈥檚 going to be beneficial to us in November,鈥� David Axelrod, the campaign鈥檚 chief strategist, said at a breakfast for Senator Obama鈥檚 top aides and the media sponsored by 海角大神.

Obama is banking on what his campaign manager David Plouffe called a 鈥減retty significant and meaningful gap in intensity鈥� over Sen. John McCain, a claim buttressed by polls showing higher levels of enthusiasm among Democrats than among Republicans this year.

The aides acknowledged the strength of President Bush鈥檚 storied campaign organization in 2004, but asserted that Senator McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee, would have a hard time replicating it at a time of conservative disenchantment.

鈥淚鈥檓 sure McCain has a list of all the Bush volunteers, but these things are not transferable,鈥� Mr. Plouffe said. He said that unlike the Republican Party, which had all but reached its voter turnout limit in the past two presidential elections, 鈥渨e think we鈥檝e got a lot more room to grow.鈥�

Mr. Axelrod dismissed the notion that the GOP鈥檚 track record of disciplined get-out-the-vote efforts would save McCain鈥檚 candidacy. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 reverse eight years of failed policies with 72 hours of field work. It鈥檚 just not going to happen.鈥�

When pressed to explain polls showing a tight race against McCain, the Obama aides said the nationwide figures masked the Democratic nominee's strength in swing states needed to pile up a majority of electoral votes.

鈥淥ne of our strategic goals here is to wake up on the morning of Nov. 4 with as many pathways to 270 electoral votes as possible,鈥� Plouffe said, noting that the campaign had 鈥渁ggressive field programs鈥� and advertising in 18 states.

All the same, the campaign 鈥� perhaps seeking to manage expectations 鈥� acknowledged that McCain鈥檚 popularity exceeds his party鈥檚 and predicted a fierce race to the finish.

鈥淪enator McCain in many ways is living off the fumes of his last campaign and has some appeal to independent voters, and that has benefited him,鈥� Axelrod said. 鈥淲e came through a hotly contested primary that lasted a long time and that has had some impact on us.鈥� We had no illusions that this would be anything but close.鈥�

鈥淭he thing that makes this election different is that the battlefield is different,鈥� he added. 鈥淭here are many more states in play than there have been in the past.鈥�

Obama, who officially won the Democratic presidential nomination Wednesday night, struggled in the primaries with working-class whites, who make up a large share of the electorate in swing states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. Asked how he would court those voters in the general election, his aides said they would appeal to people's unease over the economy.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really very simple,鈥� Axelrod said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not going well for white working-class or any working-class people in this country, [or] for middle-class people. 鈥� People have actually lost ground during the last eight years, years that McCain suggests were years of great economic progress.鈥�

Plouffe urged reporters to probe what he said were McCain鈥檚 weaknesses among two other demographic groups: Hispanics and women. The McCain campaign has 鈥渉uge deficits鈥� among those groups in swing states like New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada, he said. 鈥淚f he does not correct them, the path is not there for him to win the presidency.鈥�

McCain is expected to announce his vice-presidential pick no later than a noontime event in Dayton, Ohio, Friday. But Obama aides professed no concern that it would change the dynamics of the race. 鈥淲hoever he picks doesn鈥檛 change the fact that it鈥檚 John McCain鈥檚 agenda on the ballot,鈥� Plouffe said.

Either way, it was clear that the Obama campaign was sharpening talking points on various McCain running pates. If he chooses former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, says Plouffe, 鈥渁ll he鈥檚 done is double down on out-of-touch, being on the side of big corporate special interests 鈥� Romney is an expert on things like Cayman Island tax shelters.鈥�

If he picks independent Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who was Democratic Sen. Al Gore鈥檚 running mate in 2000, McCain will have to explain the choice of a candidate who 鈥渄idn鈥檛 subscribe to 80 percent of [McCain鈥檚] positions,鈥� Axelrod said. Lieberman, for his part, 鈥渨ill have to explain why he鈥檚 willing to abandon all of his principles鈥� to become McCain鈥檚 running mate.

The aides said they were not concerned about the persistence of false rumors 鈥� on the Internet and talk radio 鈥� that Obama is not 海角大神 but Muslim. 鈥淲e鈥檝e invested time and money and effort in straightening out that misperception,鈥� Axelrod said. 鈥淭here may be a certain percentage of people who still believe that. The question is whether they鈥檙e likely to be our voters in the first place.鈥�

With just one convention night to go, Obama's aides pronounced themselves pleased with previous three days in Denver. 鈥淲e had specific goals coming into the convention, and one was to give a richer sense of who Barrack Obama is, where he came from, what drives him,鈥� Axelrod said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had success in doing that. We wanted define both the stakes and the choice.鈥�

He declined to say how much of a bounce in the polls the campaign expected from the Democratic convention, noting that fast arrival of the Republican National Convention next week might 鈥渕ute whatever effect there is.鈥�

Polls earlier this month showed that just 1 in 2 voters who supported Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the primaries say they will definitely for Obama. But Axelrod argued Thursday that 鈥渦nambiguous鈥� convention speeches by Senator Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, should end the 鈥減lot of unity versus disunity.鈥�

He said both Clintons would actively campaign for Obama.

The Monitor hosted a similar breakfast with Mr. Romney earlier this week, and plans others, with aides to McCain, at the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minn., next week.