Local Issues Come to Fore in Battleground States

[FlyingSquirrel]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122429102715046695.html

By CHRISTOPHER COOPER

In their debates and national ads, John McCain and Barack Obama focus on the financial crisis, health care and war. In battleground states, the campaigns have started veering into the weeds, as both men seek to gain advantage with local issues that matter intensely to voters only in those regions.

In the toss-up state of Colorado, the 1922 Colorado River Water Compact has roiled the race. In mid-August, Sen. McCain told a reporter from Colorado's Pueblo Chieftain newspaper that the compact -- which dictates how much of the river's flow can be claimed by seven Western states -- "obviously needs to be renegotiated over time." That suggestion angers many in the state who fear they might lose under new terms to thirsty downstream states such as the Republican candidate's home state of Arizona.

Josh Earnest, who leads the local communications efforts of Obama's national campaign, says he had no idea what the compact was when Sen. McCain raised it. "But our supporters in Colorado were very aware of the importance," he said. Sen. Obama was soon accusing his rival of wanting to "monkey around with the water." On Sept. 30, the campaign began highlighting the statement in Colorado-only radio ads.

So it has gone in a host of battleground states. In Nevada, Sen. Obama highlighted in television ads Sen. McCain's longtime support of the proposed -- and locally reviled -- Yucca Mountain nuclear storage site. After the spots began running over the summer, Sen. McCain's support began dropping. A mid-August poll by the Las Vegas Review-Journal found that 60% of Nevadans said the candidates' stances on Yucca would bear on their vote.

In Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio, Sen. Obama has exploited a locally popular agreement, the Great Lakes water compact. Sen. Obama proposed a measure to sweeten the interstate compact, which prevents the lakes from being drained away by diversion projects, with $5 billion in federal cash to restore the lakes. The result: positive news stories in cities such as Milwaukee, Cleveland and Minneapolis -- and notice that Sen. McCain doesn't support the Obama proposal.

Indeed, the scrap for local votes often favors Sen. Obama because Sen. McCain has built a career out of opposing federal pork that drives many beloved projects. That was driven home in Virginia, where Republican politicians are pleading with Sen. McCain to reconsider his opposition to a $1.5 billion federal subsidy for a subway-extension project. The project is popular locally and supported by Sen. Obama.

Sen. Obama also benefits from investing a fair amount of power in local staff members. After Hurricane Gustav chewed through rural Cuba in early September, Mark Bubriski, an Obama campaign operative in Florida, spotted a small news item. Several Miami-based Cuban groups began pressing President George W. Bush to relax temporarily restrictions on remittances from Cubans living in the U.S. to relatives back home, so the island could be rebuilt more quickly.

Sen. McCain and the Bush administration resisted the call. Sen. Obama had already urged a relaxation of the policy in the spring

Mr. Bubriski saw a recycling opportunity. "We pushed Chicago to put out a statement immediately, even though it was just a reiteration of policy," he said. Within a day, the Obama camp issued a statement in Spanish and English, which Florida reporters recorded -- along with Sen. McCain's opposition.

Sen. McCain's edge among Latino voters soon dropped sharply in polls, and once-safe Florida became a toss-up. "Obviously, it goes back to the old maxim that all politics is local," Mr. Earnest said.

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(Just too much good stuff to limit to 4 paragraphs!)

[glowing]

1. I've noticed this is why in the debates, Obama didn't say anything crazy

McCain kept talking about Nuclear Power.. and Obama said safe.. Knowing that the more McCain spoke, the more support dropped from Nevada...