Paul Begala claims Obama Campaign is Giving up on North Carolina; Jim Messina Disagrees

[TroyD]

But Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos is questioning why they would do that when they are seeing good early voting numbers.

Why would Obama campaign abandon NC with early vote numbers like these?

https://twitter.com/markos/status/260519981475848192

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/22/1148288/-The-state-of-the-race-in-North-Carolina

[TwilightGardener]

1. Internal polling? I don't know. It IS the south.

[ncgrits]

15. If I responded to u the way I'd like to I'd be tombstoned. nt

[TwilightGardener]

18. Are you mad about NC being a part of the South? Because Obama

is not expected to win that region. Not my fault, buddy.

[still_one]

2. Regardless, why would they make that public? If begala is for Obama he should keep that informhimse

To himself

[Thrill]

3. We're still getting a ton of Obama ads here

I think Begala is off on this

[TroyD]

4. And Jim Messina is now disagreeing with Paul Begala as well

Jim Messina ‏@Messina2012

Lots of chatter we're giving up on NC. Simply not true. Just look at voter reg and early vote. #intowin

https://twitter.com/Messina2012/status/260517909711962112

[VirginiaTarheel]

5. Case closed. Begala should retract now.

[skeewee08]

6. Rope O Dope..... n/t

[bushisanidiot]

20. +1

.

[ProSense]

7. First of all, I don't

trust TPM reporting on this. Some of these short takes are out of context. Was Begala bluffing? Or is he stupid?

Kos: The state of the race in North Carolina

<...>

Interestingly, it was Obama who increased his ad spending in the state last week:

- more -

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/22/1148288/-The-state-of-the-race-in-North-Carolina

[oswaldactedalone]

8. I'm not buying this

the Obama for America offices are working at full capacity with tons of volunteers. No one here in NC is giving up on it.

[DrToast]

9. They may not be giving up, but Obama isn't visiting there...

So they also don't seem to be making it a priority.

[bushisanidiot]

21. The President is only one person. It's not like he has free time to go everywhere

they have to be very strategic about how he spends his time in the last
two weeks of the campaign. AND the President has an actual DAY JOB,
so I'm giving him some slack for not hitting every swing state. OH is
most important, and we need to hold the states we are ahead in. period.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

24. +1

[DrToast]

26. So you're basically agreeing with me

Because I said they're not making it a priority. You said, "OH is
most important, and we need to hold the states we are ahead in."

So, yeah, like I said...

[bushisanidiot]

29. Not making an appearance in NC is not equal to giving up on NC

if that's what you're saying, then yes.

[hrmjustin]

10. Begala is so stupid. A comment like this could dampen the turnout in early voting.

I just saw some tweets that said they may increase spending in NC.

[graham4anything]

11. Because he is so far ahead there and there are closer states

[karmaqueen]

12. There is A lot of energy in Eastern NC!

We have people to fill different shifts in the GOTV projects.The R people have the same people every day sitting at the voting place. Our family is working this week doing different things. My husband is working the polls in the AM. I hope they don't give up here.

[LisaL]

25. They wouldn't be spending more on advertising if they were giving up.

[liberal N proud]

13. Begala is peddling propaganda

[octoberlib]

23. +1

It's misinformation.

[TroyD]

14. Paul Begala has been doing a good job advising one of the Obama SuperPAC's, but

He is not an official spokesman for the campaign, so that's probably why Jim Messina is annoyed.

[TroyD]

16. Begala's statement is spreading, but he's getting some blowback

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2012/10/22/democratic-strategist-paul-begala-obama-has-given-up-on-winning-north-carolina/

[LisaL]

17. Obama is spending more on advertising there.

So Mr. Bengala doesn't appear to know what he is talking about.

[progressivebydesign]

19. So they send Michelle Obama to a State they're given up on? I call BS. nt

[politicaljack78]

22. Obama was not supposed to win NC in 2008 either

and a massive get out the vote effort later RED became BLUE and will stay BLUE this year too.

[TroyD]

27. "Obama was not supposed to win NC in 2008 either"

Good point.

Hopefully they can pull it out again in 2012.

[politicaljack78]

28. Not hopefully....will pull it out...n/t

[ProSense]

30. Begala: never mind

Begala: I’m ‘Glad To Hear’ Obama Is Contesting NC

Paul Begala told TPM Monday he's happy to see President Obama's campaign committed to winning North Carolina following his appearance on CNN Monday, where he said the president was no longer playing for the state.

"I have no contact with the Obama campaign, and I am glad to hear [Obama campaign manager Jim] Messina say they're fighting on in NC," Begala said in an email. "Happy to be proved wrong."

- more -

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/begala-im-glad-to-hear-obama-is-contesting

[michello]

31. Over Zealous, Big Mouth Ass!

[LisaL]

32. If he had no contact with Obama campaign, he shouldn't have run his mouth to begin with.

Obama is not going to spend more money on advertising if he was giving up. That's crazy talk.