Hi, everyone. I’m Jim Messina, campaign
manager of Obama for America. I've got a quick
update for you on where the race is right
now -- and our outlook for the next five months.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve had people
asking me about all the polls they’ve been seeing.
I say the same thing to all of them. We knew
this was going to be a
tough race -- and we knew that once Mitt Romney
locked up the nomination, the Republicans
would get
behind him and this race would be tight. Just
like we always knew it would be.
You know what really matters in a close election?
The unprecedented grassroots
organizing we’re doing every day in states
across the country. We’re following the
strategy we’ve had since day one, and we
can’t afford to lose focus on that.
Here’s one more thing you can tell your
friends when they ask you about
the latest polls:
We’re actually ahead of where we were at
this point last time around.
Remember summer of 2008?
Folks don't remember it this way, but in May
and June of 2008, a lot of polls were saying
we'd never pull it off -- in fact, eight different
national polls had us anywhere from neck-in-neck
to down a few points.
But you talked to your friends
and neighbors. And voters those polls had
counted out showed up on Election Day in record
numbers.
We’re going to do that again this year,
on an even bigger scale -- and this time around,
we’re starting out with an advantage.
If the election were
held today, we would win 243 of the 270 electoral
votes we need to win. Romney would come in
at 191, with 104 electoral votes up for grabs
in the battleground states where we’re doing
some of our best organizing -- opening up
offices,
staffing up, and registering voters. These
are states where we've already out-organized
what we did in 2008.
Which, to quote the Vice President, is
a big, um, deal.
A quick example. In North Carolina in 2008,
we won by 14,000 votes, but we registered
more than 160,000 new voters.
That was a difference. That's how we won.
This time around, we're taking the same approach.
So while polls say it's too close to call
in
North Carolina, what matters to me is this,
we've already registered 83,000 voters this
cycle
in North Carolina - organizing on the ground,
talking to voters, getting you involved, that's
how we win.
All of this is just to say one thing: the
only poll
that really matters is November 6th. Election
Day.
We can’t pay attention to anything else
-- good or bad. We need to keep focusing on
building our campaign. And that’s exactly
what we’re doing. We’re going to run the
most sophisticated grassroots campaign this
country has ever seen -- and to do that, we
need to stay focused, work hard, and ignore
the ups and downs.
When things get tough out there, remember
why we're doing this - to make sure that all
Americans get a fair shot and a fair
shake in this economy.
To make sure that all of our kids can go
as far as their talents can take them.
That's what this is about, and it's
worth the fight.
So keep up the great
work out there, hit the doors, send in a contribution,
and let's go win this thing.
Thanks everyone. See you soon.
