Dear Mr. Axelrod:
I saw your interview last week with Katie Couric and I think everything went well, except for one point that flashed a huge red flag the minute I heard it--when you said that Obama did too many "iconic" rally-type speeches at the beginning of this campaign. I respectfully disagree.
In my humble opinion, the one way to jump-start some momentum before the Indiana and North Carolina primaries is something totally within Obama's power to do--return to those rallies. Even better, Obama should give a major anti-war speech about the war in Iraq before May 6 in Indiana, and use the big-rally format. My reasons are listed below.
- Obama is the anti-war candidate in this election and he should remind people of it.
- Obama can get a "twofer" by linking the expense of the war to the economic problems of the people in Indiana and North Carolina.
- The people of Indiana get something special from the Obama campaign and its a great excuse to fire up undecideds.
- It would rally demoralized canvassers and phone-bankers.
- It would dominate the news cycle for at least a day and get the focus off the negative campaign issues, e.g., the Rev. Wright and Ayers.
Please don't undervalue the importance of Obama's big rallies. While I have no hard proof that the rallies in January and February helped to put Obama over the top with some big margins in state primaries, they clearly didn't hurt. When people are fired up by the rallies, they invest more time in grass roots activities like canvassing and phone-banking. Do you think that all of those young new voters who became inspired by Obama since January would have been as fired up if he had stayed with town halls (the Hillary format)?
Rallies enable Obama to connect with people in a way that he cannot do as easily in a town hall format. While people talk about voting on the issues, plenty of people vote for the candidate that inspires them. I think Obama can close the voter gap in Indiana and achieve a huge margin in North Carolina by shifting back to rallies in the last week before May 6, and by giving a blow-out speech on the war. Just my opinion.
Sincerely, Karen A.