President Barack Obama landed in Atlanta on Friday for a campaign swing that is expected to raise several million dollars for his 2012 re-election bid.
The president was greeted on the tarmac at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport by Mayor Kasim Reed and members of Georgia's Democratic U.S. congressional delegation. Air Force One arrived just before 5:30 p.m.
In addition to Reed, Democratic U.S. Reps. John Lewis, Sanford Bishop, David Scott and Hank Johnson greeted the president. Neither Gov. Nathan Deal, U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss nor Democratic U.S. Rep. John Barrow was present. Georgia's Republican U.S. lawmakers also did not attend the airport arrival.
Obama took about 10 minutes to shake hands with and greet the collection of supporters gathered on the tarmac. He then strolled to his motorcade and left.
Before coming to Atlanta, the president made campaign fund-raising stops in his hometown of Chicago.
In Atlanta, the Obama campaign's African American Leadership Council was holding a gala at film producer Tyler Perry's studio. General admission tickets were $500. VIP tickets ranged from $2,500 to $10,000. A dinner later at Perry's home was expected to raise $35,800 per guest.
The money is split between the campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
Earlier Reed, perhaps the president's most high-profile Georgia supporter, said Obama should make his intentions clear as he looks for campaign dollars and votes in Georgia.
“I don’t know if the commitment is there to play big," Reed said of the campaign's thoughts on Georgia. "And that’s the only way for Georgia to be in play. You cannot pursue this in a small, modest way."
Reed, emphasizing that he is "completely committed to the president," said he won't personally fight for Obama here if Obama isn't fighting alongside.
"Just in terms of Atlanta and Georgia, you're not going to have a partner for a modest effort," Reed said. "At least, not here."
There are reasons, of course, for Obama to be hesitant to commit the millions of dollars it would take to launch a full-scale fight for Georgia's 16 electoral votes. Consider:
- No Democrat has won the state since 1992, when Bill Clinton eked out a win with just 43 percent of the vote, thanks in part to Ross Perot's insurgent campaign that siphoned votes from incumbent President George H.W. Bush.
- Obama spent nearly $4 million in Georgia in 2008, had 52 paid employees, opened 33 campaign offices and trained nearly 5,000 volunteers. He still lost to Republican John McCain by 5 percentage points.
- To put that another way, McCain spent hardly any money in the state, had zero staff or offices, and still won with 52 percent of the vote.
- The state has only grown more solidly Republican in the past four years, as the GOP has swept every statewide office and is nearing two-thirds majorities in both the state House and Senate.
Linda Herren, one of Georgia's members of the Republican National Committee, said there's another reason to believe her party will continue its Georgia dominance. Obama received more votes in Georgia than any Democrat not named Jimmy Carter since 1960 based on rock-solid party support and more than a few swing voters. That latter group, Herren said, won't make the same mistake twice.
"I have just seen a lot of those people who are totally disenchanted with what he's doing," Herren said. Those voters, she said, are "99 percent" concerned about the economy.
"They're saying maybe it wasn't such a good idea" to vote for him in 2008, Herren said.
Publicly, Obama's campaign has said little about Georgia. Its focus is clearly on two other Southern states it flipped in 2008: North Carolina and Virginia. Privately, Obama campaign aides, who are not permitted to speak on the record, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Georgia is close to being competitive but isn't there yet.
"We’re seeing the president’s re-election supported all across the state of Georgia," one campaign official said. "Our organization is on the ground mobilizing voters with trainings, events and voter registration efforts, and we look forward to continue building on that support throughout this campaign."
There are key battleground states -- Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, to name a few -- and states Obama is almost assured to win and states he's almost assured to lose. Then there are a few "first-tier" states such as Georgia and Arizona, places that could flip into the Democratic column if Obama is able to expand the map.
North Carolina offers an interesting benchmark for Georgia's competitiveness in November. In March 2008, the Obama campaign had already publicly committed to fighting hard for the Tar Heel State, although public polls showed him trailing badly at that point. It wasn't until September 2008 that any public poll showed him with a lead over McCain.
But, in 2008, North Carolina elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate and to the governor's office and had seen huge growth in Democratic areas of the state, particularly around Charlotte.
Democrats here, meanwhile, have shown little ability to challenge Republican power.
"I get the sense that their electoral strategy is not contingent on Georgia, and I agree with that," said state Rep. Scott Holcomb, D-Atlanta. "I do sense movement toward Georgia being, if not in play, then a state the president devotes resources to to make Republicans defend it."
Two recent polls have given Georgia Democrats hope. The first, by CNN/Time magazine just before the March 6 primaries, had Obama and an unnamed Republican opponent tied at 48 percent. The second, released this week by the Democratic polling firm 20/20 Insight, showed Obama leading Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum 47 percent to 44 percent, and getting beat 46 percent to 45 percent by both Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. The poll of 773 registered voters had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points, making each scenario a virtual tossup.
Mark Rountree, a Georgia Republican political consultant and pollster, has doubts about those numbers. In his polling, Obama typically is around 44 percent or 45 percent, with the Republican at about 48 percent.
"We usually find Obama in the mid-40s, doesn't move very much," Rountree said. "You say, ‘Oh, he's at 44, how hard is it going to be to get 50?' It's not simple at all. The final part of the mountain to climb there is virtually vertical."
A Democrat, he said, "can get 45 percent all day long in this state, but then you hit a wall of conservative Republicans, essentially. He's obviously not better off than he was four years ago."
Four years ago, Obama's campaign couldn't quite decide what to do with Georgia. He dominated the state's Democratic primary and devoted generous resources to the state in the early days of the general election campaign. In September, however, he pulled his television ads and shifted some personnel to more competitive states. A final-week push brought more advertising, but Obama, himself, never campaigned in the state after becoming the nominee.
Sue Everhart, the chairwoman of the Georgia Republican Party, expects Obama to again put resources into Georgia.
"We can't match the dollars he's going to spend in Georgia," she said. "But if the [Republican] vote turns out, I know we're going to win."
Staff writer Jim Galloway contributed to this article.
Presidential visit, presidential traffic
President Barack Obama will be in Atlanta on Friday, and that could mean a traffic nightmare on the city’s Southside for early rush hour.
Obama has a fundraiser scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. at Tyler Perry Studios, 2769 Continental Colony Parkway SW.
The White House, citing security concerns, will not publicly release the president’s travel plans. But any route from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to the studios would likely involve I-285 or I-85, as well as surface streets. Traffic along those roads will be blocked for the president’s motorcade.
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