Dennis Kucinich is telling Iowans who caucus for him that their second choice should be Barack Obama (and here). This is a HUGE deal. The Democratic Party rules require that in any precinct where a candidate does not meet a 15% threshold, his or her supporters must organize on behalf of a second-choice candidate who does clear the threshold. Kucinich’s supporters may be few, but they could be enough to tilt the result towards one of the top tier candidates if they all re-organize around the same second choice. In 2004, Kucinich asked his supporters to make John Edwards their second choice, which was a big reason why Edwards did so well that year. This time around, it looks like the beneficiary could be Obama. In a three-way race as tight as this, Kucinich’s supporters could end up the king-makers.
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Why Can’t President Obama Get Surrogates You Can Believe In?
It’s one of the great unexplained frustrations of the Obama presidency: Perhaps the most telegenic political leader of his generation has not been able to recruit a bench of top-flight, telegenic spinmeisters–called “surrogates” in the business–to fight his battles on cable and network television.
His top two economic spokespeople during the great decline of 2009–Larry Summers and Tim Geithner–had minds that chafed at the remedial logic of televised debate and voices that mumbled through talking points. His most able economic debater, Austan Goolsbee, had some success but then gave up the White House to return to Chicago and the academy. His top political spokesmen–Robert Gibbs, David Axelrod and David Plouffe–deliver a punch as hard as anyone, but for the same reason rarely elevated the President’s case beyond the ring. His Vice President, Joe Biden, hits his marks, but only when he is on message. The DNC chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, struggles to transcend her Congressional roots. And Bill Daley, the President’s erstwhile chief of staff who was hired in large part because of his surrogate chops, faded from the scene after few unremarkable Sunday show appearances.
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Obama’s Health Care Box
Alec MacGillis of the NewRepublic has been doing some fine campaign reporting this year and here he offers a smart look at what may be the most important state of all in November–Ohio. The most striking part of the piece for me, one that illuminates an essential conundrum for Barack Obama, occurs when MacGillis goes door to door with a labor-affiliated political organizer in a white working-class neighborhood in Columbus:
