Obama campaign staff pulling out of North Dakota
BISMARCK, N.D. -- Barack Obama, who has deployed more than 50 staffers in North Dakota in an attempt to become the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state since 1964, is pulling out.
An Obama spokeswoman, Amy Brundage, confirmed Sunday that the campaign's North Dakota staffers were being sent to Minnesota and Wisconsin, where recent polls have shown a tight race between Obama and Republican John McCain.
She declined to say how many campaign workers were being shifted, but other Democratic activists put the number at more than 50. Obama has opened 11 North Dakota campaign offices and run television advertising in the state, which is unusual for a Democratic presidential candidate.
McCain's campaign has no paid staff or offices in North Dakota.
The Obama campaign's decision comes just before North Dakotans will begin marking early ballots for the Nov. 4 election. Absentee voting may start as early as Thursday, and county auditors have reported getting thousands of ballot applications.
Democrats say the Obama campaign employees have been working to identify sympathetic voters, a task that is more difficult in North Dakota because the state does not have voter registration.
Minot attorney Jim Maxson, who was the first North Dakota "superdelegate" to the Democratic National Convention to back Obama, said he believes the Democrat still has a chance to beat McCain in North Dakota.
In any case, the Obama campaign's work for North Dakota Democratic candidates should give them a boost in November, Maxson said Sunday.
"In Minot, these folks have been working seven-day weeks, 12 hours a day, since July," Maxson said. "They're reaching a point of diminishing return on their efforts. I think this is a wise move for them to relocate, and we'll be fine."
A statement provided by Brundage said the Obama campaign "always knew it would be an uphill battle," but staffers "built a grassroots movement we are proud of, and an infrastructure that will help candidates up and down the ballot."
Lyndon B. Johnson was the last Democrat to carry North Dakota when he swamped Republican Barry Goldwater in 1964. George W. Bush twice won the state easily, with Democratic foe Al Gore getting 33 percent of the vote in 2000 and John Kerry attracting 36 percent in 2004.
"I'm not a trash talker, but I'll go out on a limb and say that it looks like Obama is going to be doing substantially better than the Democratic presidential candidates have done in the last two races, with or without these (Obama) folks here," Maxson said.