Some Democrats privately fault Obama for not laying out a foundation for his candidacy the way Bill Clinton did in 1992, when he ran as a new Democrat on a program of ideas designed to move his party back to the center. One veteran of the Clinton White House said Obama has never made it clear that he has "real ideas for solving the country's challenges."
For now, the Democrat is emphasizing pocketbook issues such as energy, gas prices, health care, jobs and college tuition. McCain is highlighting the need for more U.S. drilling for oil and gas, along with cutting spending and keeping taxes low.
In a departure for Republican candidates in recent elections, McCain has de-emphasized issues of terrorism and homeland security. Bush made the fight against Islamic terrorism a centerpiece of his successful 2004 re-election, but that issue didn't help Republicans enough in 2006, when change-minded voters gave control of Congress back to the Democrats.
"Surprisingly enough, some of the foreign policy issues have not been as dominant in the general election as they were in the primary battles," said Gibbs, the Obama adviser. But he predicted that developments in Iraq and Afghanistan would play into voter decisions this fall and noted that Obama is linking the cost of the war to Washington's failure to make needed investments at home.
Around the country, Obama's campaign has invested heavily in trying to expand the electoral playing field, putting organizers and TV ad money into traditionally Republican states from North Dakota to Georgia. The McCain campaign has been slow to respond. For example, there are no paid McCain workers in North Dakota, according to DuHaime.
DuHaime said the McCain campaign was in the process of "adding infrastructure," opening more offices and hiring campaign workers around the country. McCain is concentrating his efforts on about 15 states, including many of those the Obama campaign is targeting.
The election is likely to be decided on many of the same battlefields of the last two presidential contests, assuming that the race remains close. Almost 40 of the 50 states already tilt toward one party or another. Maryland, for example, is one of a dozen reliably Democratic states, mainly clustered on the east and west coasts, regarded as safe for Obama. McCain is similarly favored in about 20 states across the South and mountain West.
So that handful of tossup states were among the first to see the candidates as they left their conventions. Obama headed for Democratic-leaning Pennsylvania and Michigan, which McCain is trying hard to peel away. McCain took off for Democratic-leaning Wisconsin, then campaigned yesterday in Colorado and New Mexico, '04 Republican states with large Hispanic populations that Obama has put in play.
The underlying math boils down to a fight for culturally conservative Democrats and independent swing voters. A McCain strategist acknowledged that the Republican needs to take at least 15 percent of the Democratic vote and a clear majority of independents in order to defeat Obama.
