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Obama's glaring weaknesses: Older Women, Hispanics, TV ads

by: wheelbarrow

Sat Jan 19, 2008 at 18:01:51 PM CST


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Women and Hispanics

FACT:You cannot win the Democratic nomination by losing the women vote consistently. And after Iowa, it looks like Barack isn't closing the gap with Hillary Clinton on this front. Women make up over 55% of the Democratic primary vote. Also, based on today's result from Nevada, the Obama campaign needs to fundamentally change its Hispanic outreach strategy. We cannot afford a 20-point plus gap to Hillary on this front as well. It just won't do.

 

Another weak spot: Obama's TV ads

In Iowa, Obama run a fantastic job ad featuring a laid off worker. That's the only testimonial tv ad they've run so far this campaign. The other one was the Butter lady radio ads. What happened in Iowa? Barack won Iowa. In New Hampshire, the Obama campaign didn't run a single testimonial ad. What actually surprised me about NH is the fact that here you had a very prominent Congresswoman who endorsed Obama, Rep. Carol Shea Porter. And the Obama campaign punted when it came to reaching out to female voters who make up the majority of Democratic primary voters. Carol Porter wasn't featured in any of Barack's ads in New Hampshire. Why was that? Featuring Carol Shea Porter in some Obama TV ads could have swung a few thousand votes Obama's way. The female vote is the Obama campaign's Achilles heel, and yet no strong play for the female vote? My wife doesn't understand this either. She constantly says the Obama campaign is taking the female vote for granted, and with Obama's inclusive message, he could easily win them over if he actually got serious about reaching out to them.

The knock against Barack Obama is that he's all rhetoric and inspirational, but voters aren't sure whether he has the substance to be president. Of course Obama has the substance, but the perception just going by Obama's tv ads actually reinforce this false caricature of Barack. His tv ads are all spliced from his speeches on the campaign trail. Take a look at the ads he run in Nevada. Not a single testimonial ad on tv or radio. Testimonial ads work! Obama is really being held in a bottle instead of being free to reach out in unique ways through a dynamic ad campaign. Testimonial ads would complement Barack's message so well, but unfortunately, there's very little of this strategy in play from his media team.

The Obama campaign ads have been mediocre at best with the exception of the JJ Dinner ad which run in Iowa. Testimonial ads work in helping to vouch for a candidate. Obama needs average, trustworthy people to vouch for him in his tv ads. Yes, we need to see women vouching for Obama. Watch Barack Obama close the gap with Hillary Clinton if he starts running a vigorous testimonial ad campaign on TV and radio.

This race is far from over. But strategy-wise, like Barack Obama likes to say, you cannot keep on doing the same things and expect to get different results. Plouffe, Axelrod, Margolis and Hildebrand must shift gears now. South Carolina is now a test case state for a new strategy for the Obama campaign. Lessons from New Hampshire and Nevada must be applied to the South Carolina race.

wheelbarrow :: Obama's glaring weaknesses: Older Women, Hispanics, TV ads
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I like your ideas (0.00 / 0)
There was one really good testimonial ad with Tony McPeak.  I think we should get them to bring that back.

What other kind of testimonial ads do you think would be good?  Maybe hyper-localized ones?  Like local community leaders doing radio ads for their communities?  Newspaper ads?

We also need to not talk about race no matter how nasty the race baiting gets from the Clintons.


Yes, the Tony McPeak ad in Iowa was great (0.00 / 0)
Like I said, testimonial ads complement Barack's message so well. His campaign is doing a huge disservice to the candidate by not applying the lessons from Iowa. Testimonial ads work.

Testimonial ads featuring prominent women endorsees or women in general talking about issues that matter to them and why Barack would be the best to handle said issues would also work so well. Obama Achille's heel is older women voters. We need to tackle this head-on.

I really hope the Obama campaign doesn't make the same mistake they made in New Hampshire and Nevada by not running a single testimonial ad.


[ Parent ]
I would like to see the Obama campaign (4.00 / 1)
work a little harder refuting the smears against his pro-choice record.  It hurt him in NH and reduces support from women.  TOTT has the latest chapter in the story.

two people commented today on (0.00 / 0)
how bad his "ad' is in California, as compared to Hillary's 3 Hollywood productions.

You're right (0.00 / 0)
I think the rest of his campaign organization is fine, but his TV ads are really mediocre. I don't really know why.

testimonials from women worth a try (0.00 / 0)
Based on the phone calls I've been making, Hillary is doing well with women in MN. Don't know what will turn this around. I'd love to see more more congressional endorsements (especially from women.) Wish more people would see that Obama is is the strongest candidate to win the general election and also help pick up seats in congress.

I agree. (4.00 / 1)
Obama needs to freshen up his approach.  In this next push to Super Tuesday, he needs to get out his policy while his campaign, ad people and surrogates push the message.  Obama can always put forth an occassional speech that rallys up the masses.

To add - many are afraid that Hillary has successfully planted the idea that he's the race candidate.  

I think he made a big mistake by confronting her on this.  Instead, it would have been far more effective for him to address the problem by responding to reporters and pundits that it is a shame that some of her surrogates have problems with race.

Once a day..uncomplicate your life: http://tugboatcaptain.blogspot.com/2007/09/although-i-have-long-standing-policy.html


when did he confront Hillary on race? n/t (0.00 / 0)


[ Parent ]
Didn't he say something (0.00 / 0)
about this last week?  Weren't all the harpies over on kos whining about him playing the race card or something?  

Mr. Obama's campaign then attacked Mrs. Clinton for failing to repudiate one of her top black supporters for "engaging in the politics of destruction" with an apparent reference to Mr. Obama's acknowledged drug use in the past. And throughout the day, supporters of Mrs. Clinton and of Mr. Obama each accused the other of injecting race in search of political gain.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01...

Once a day..uncomplicate your life: http://tugboatcaptain.blogspot.com/2007/09/although-i-have-long-standing-policy.html


[ Parent ]
Ads and contrast (0.00 / 0)
I wouldn't mind seeing an ad that shows how Obama was honest in saying he had a weakness vs. the other two.  It shows authenticity - or better yet have a voter speak about how it shows America we can trust what Obama says.

Humor would also do well, I think, as a way of showing contrast.  


if we're doing this (0.00 / 0)
I'd like to see some issue ads.  A 30 second ad on the Obama Economic plan.  A 30 second ad on the Obama Health plan.  There is a misperception that he does not have plans/substance/specifics/whatever.


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