Obama Launches Reelection Bid
Politico reports:
President Barack Obama launched his reelection campaign Monday morning with a web video posted on his website.
“It Begins With Us” features a series of supporters from around the country explaining why they support the president, but does not include Obama’s voice or any new film footage of him.
“This campaign is just kicking off,” the front page of BarackObama.com says. “We’re opening up offices, unpacking boxes, and starting a conversation with supporters like you to help shape our path to victory. 2012 begins now, and this is where you say you’re in.”
Reports over the weekend set the drumbeat for the official launch, which came soon after 5 a.m. on the fourth day of the fourth month, symbolic for the 44th president.
An official filing with the Federal Election Commission is expected to come Monday so that Obama can begin fundraising for his campaign. His first official fundraiser is scheduled for April 14 in his hometown of Chicago. Two more are set for the following week, in San Francisco and Los Angeles, with ticket prices ranging from $25 for young adults — “Gen44” — to $2,500 for VIPs.
Though the president’s voice isn’t heard in the announcement, it does come across in an email message sent to his mailing list Monday morning.
“We’re doing this now because the politics we believe in does not start with expensive TV ads or extravaganzas, but with you — with people organizing block-by-block, talking to neighbors, co-workers, and friends,” he says, explaining why the launch is coming more than 19 months before Election Day. “And that kind of campaign takes time to build.”
“So even though I’m focused on the job you elected me to do, and the race may not reach full speed for a year or more, the work of laying the foundation for our campaign must start today,” Obama continues in the written message. That includes fundraising for what could be the first-ever $1 billion campaign.
Former White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina is Obama’s campaign manager and has set up shop in Chicago at One Prudential Plaza, overlooking Grant Park, where Obama gave his election night victory speech.
Summoning the grassroots supporters who helped elect Obama in 2008, the two-minute video is an exercise in covering the bases, with backers young and old. Four of the five people featured in the video come from battleground states, the fifth is a college student from New York.
“We’re not leaving it up to chance, we’re not leaving up to, ‘oh, the incumbent,’” a woman identified as Gladys, of Nevada, says. “It’s an election that we have to win.” Video footage shows her in a kitchen with three kids.
“Unfortunately, President Obama is one person,” says Alice from Michigan. “Plus, he’s got a job. You know, we’re paying him to do a job so we can’t say, ‘hey can you take some time off and get us all energized?’ So we better figure it out.”
There’s also an appeal to disaffected supporters.
“I don’t agree with Obama on everything, but I respect him and I trust him,” Ed from North Carolina says, echoing the views of some who backed Obama in 2008 but haven’t been happy with his performance in the White House.
And Obama makes his own outreach pitch in his email. “We’ve always known that lasting change wouldn’t come quickly or easily. It never does,” he says. “But as my administration and folks across the country fight to protect the progress we’ve made — and make more — we also need to begin mobilizing for 2012, long before the time comes for me to begin campaigning in earnest.”
“There are so many things that are still on the table that need to be addressed. And we want them to be addressed by President Obama,” Gladys says.