HuffPo: Romney's not pulling out of NC

[LiberalElite]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/20/romney-north-carolina-campaign-victory-offices_n_1993263.html

[LisaL]

1. It was a head fake.

[DonViejo]

2. here's some of the story

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney is not pulling out of North Carolina, despite reports suggesting otherwise. In fact, he appears to be transferring just one press officer to Ohio, while keeping all other staffers in the state and all statewide offices open until Election Day.

Last week, it was reported that the Romney campaign leaked that it was winding down operations in North Carolina, confident that the state was firmly in the back pocket of the Republican presidential nominee. News outlets reported it as a "clear sign the campaign is confident" about winning North Carolina.

“With the increasingly widening polls in North Carolina, we will continue to allocate resources, including key senior staff, to other states,” Michael Levoff, a Romney campaign spokesman, told the Raleigh News & Observer.

It appears to have been -- as Democrats claimed at the time -- a head-fake. The Huffington Post placed calls to all 22 Romney Victory offices in the state of North Carolina on Saturday. Each one was still open, with plans to remain that way until Election Day. Asked about reports that Romney was moving resources out of the state, several campaign staffers (not knowing that they were talking to a member of the press) said that those reports were overstated.

[Cha]

7. Thanks DonViejo.. "head fake" yeah,

Fake like every other frickin' thing about mittLies.

[BlueStreak]

3. Huffpo described the earlier report as a "head fake"

Another explanation is that they panicked when Biden kicked Ryan's ass and Obama came back strong in the second debate. They saw Ohio getting away and NC looked safe to them. But as the polls continue to evolve after the two debate wins for Biden and Obama, NC is no longer a gimmie.

So they decided they couldn't afford to pull resources out of NC.

[LisaL]

5. These polls are all over the place.

And NC has many more registered democrats than it does republicans. If registered democrats vote proportionally to registered republicans we could win NC.

[BlueStreak]

8. Right. I'm just saying I bet it was more disarray than head fake.

[Lex]

4. Romnesia.

[young but wise]

10. +1

He makes me dizzy.

[John2]

6. It is Obama's ground operations

Obama's campaign claims they have the best GOTV operation in North Carolina. The GOP will be crazy to leave North Carolina. The Democrats have a 803,000 registration advantage in North Carolina. They are ahead of the Republicans in Early voting. The advantage flipped on Thursday. If you were going by actual real time votes instead of Polls, right now President Obama has a double digit lead on Romney in North Carolina. Romney is trying to catch up now.

The Dems could have won by more in 2008, but a lot of them didn't vote. If, they can get more Dems out to vote, Romney is toast in North Carolina. He needs a lot of Independents and crossover votes from Democrats, just to keep it close. In 2008, McCain got 16% of the white Democratic vote. Those people didn't vote for President Obama.

[BlueStreak]

9. NC probably won't be "the deciding state"

In other words, If we win NC, we probably will have 300 or more electors.

But I really want to win NC and Florida. If we could do that, together with holding the Senate with 51 or 52 seats, and close the gap in the House, this can be a strong mandate, both symbolically and practically. That will be evidence that McConnell and the Teabaggers screwed the pooch by trying to obstruct everything. There will be some motivation to work with Obama.

Normally the second term is considered the time when a president coasts, but this could end up just backwards from conventional wisdom. The economy should continue to improve. Obama will be in a strong position re: the "fiscal cliff" and might be able to do the "grand bargain" he had proposed earlier, and this time include more infrastructure spending. Basically the "fiscal cliff" will be his big opportunity in the second term to get the progressive items in place. And he will also be in a better position to demand that all elements of the ACA be funded. This could be a very high-impact second term.

If we get something that looks like a mandate.

Another aspect of picking up Senate seats this year is that the Senate numbers are against us again in 2014. So if we can hold 52 or 53, that puts us in a much better position to continue to hold the senate in 2014. Then in 2016, the Senate numbers are in our favor.