WASHINGTON - Barack Obama faced two critical questions: where to play and how to pay. To answer both, the Democrat reversed course to become the first candidate to reject $85 million in public money for the general election.
The decision will allow the record-shattering fundraiser to raise and spend as much as he wants and, thus, implement his strategy to expand the Electoral College playing field.
Shortly after announcing that he would rely on his vast network of private donors, Obama launched a bold new advertising campaign that signaled a desire to compete in a mix of traditional battleground states and Republican strongholds while trying to win over independents and disaffected Republicans after eight years of President Bush.
"America is a country of strong families and strong values. My life's been blessed by both," Obama says in the ad slated to run in 18 states. "If I have the honor of taking the oath of office as president, it will be with a deep and abiding faith in the country I love."
In its images and in its words, the 60-second commercial that opens Obama's general election campaign seeks to introduce the first-term Illinois senator to voters. It also positions him more toward the center of the electorate by emphasizing universal issues of family and values while addressing some of his political vulnerabilities.
Obama is seeking to become the first black president and race has proved a hurdle; he reminds voters he's of mixed race with pictures of his white Kansas mother and grandparents though none of his black Kenyan father. He also emphasizes his modest, middle-class upbringing, an attempt by the Harvard-educated senator to counter the notion that he's an elitist and to connect with working-class voters who largely preferred rival Hillary Rodham Clinton during the primaries. With a flag pin on his lapel, Obama tries to allay concerns about his patriotism as well.
The campaign chose to compete, at least for now, in 11 swing-voting states Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and seven others that have reliably voted for Republican presidential candidates in the past several elections Alaska, Georgia, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota and Virginia.
With his newfound financing freedom, Obama intends to test his theory that his appeal allows him to make Democrats competitive in states the party typically ignores, particularly in the South and Mountain West, and thereby give Democrats a better chance to rack up the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.
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