It's like a first kiss...gone wrong:
Several tell Time that OFA boss David Plouffe, who ran Obama's 2008 campaign, is using the cash to rebuild an army for 2012 under the cover of boosting turnout in 2010. OFA is putting staff into such states as Virginia, North Carolina and Arizona, which have few close statewide races this fall but which are all prime targets in an Obama re-election campaign. "This is totally about 2012," Cook says.
Plouffe denies the charge. "I couldn't object more strongly," he says. Plouffe notes that OFA volunteers knocked on 200,000 doors in late August — an impressive number, but only a tenth of what it could do in 2008.
"The popularity of the President with these voters is not a transferable asset," says Jamal Simmons, a Democratic strategist. "I don't think it's realistic that they would ever be able to replicate the unbridled enthusiasm. It's like a first kiss: you can never experience it twice."However, Obama consultant Joe Trippi says the "army" was, indeed, ignored:
Neglect is to blame. After Obama was elected, his political aides ignored the army he had created until it eventually disappeared. No one was in charge; decisions were often deferred but rarely made. By the time they realized they needed more troops, says longtime consultant Joe Trippi, "their supporters had taken a vacation from politics.If you visit OFA, you must enter your email address and zip code or you cannot enter the site. Have to wonder what's in there.
Graphic courtesy of Moonbattery
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