NO, NOT REALLY
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama talked a big game about putting South Carolina in play during the November election, but when push came to shove, he balked. During the Friday news dump, his campaign subtly said they would be hiring only two staffers to coordinate all of his Palmetto State activities.
The campaign said that Trav Robertson will oversee field, political and communications staff while Clay Middleton will serve as political director.
Robertson is a South Carolina native who was Iowa regional field director and South Carolina field coordinator for New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson’s presidential campaign. Robertson also is a veteran of local and state campaigns.
Middleton is a graduate of The Citadel and a veteran of the Iraq War. He lost a primary bid this year for a seat in the state House of Representatives. [AP]
Robertson was kind of the obvious choice for Obama. He’s probably the best Democratic operative left in the state and he’s the only guy charitable enough to take up such a doomed post.
This sad news for Democrats only adds to the snubbing sent down from The Chosen One at next week’s national convention, where despite a large field of possibilities, only House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn will play a prominent role.
This entry was posted on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 12:17 pm and is filed under Democrats, National news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Harpers?
There are at least four Obama staffers in South Carolina.
The “large field of possibilities” you link only mentions one actual SC poltician: Spratt, who is by no means a big enough player to get a speaking gig. The other two- John Edwards and Jesse Jackson- don’t count. One left SC after high school and hasn’t looked back (unless he needs something politically) and the other was a senator in NC.
I didn’t see a single SC speaker on the GOP list of speakers, not even Graham. If having one speaker at a convention is snubbing, then having zero speakers at the convention must be kicking the state in the face. Personally, I think SC’s gotten it’s fair share of attention/prestige for this cycle.
Funding only a small operation seems like a good choice for Obama, particularly since the Dem Senate nominee is rather anti-Obama and doesn’t have a chance in hell (thankfully) of being elected. It might even be good news for Dems in the local races, since a strong Obama presence wouldn’t do very conservative Democrats much good.