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Obama Camp on Pawlenty: Bring It On
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ShareAugust 28, 2008 5:39 PM
ABC News' Teddy Davis reports: The Obama campaign signaled a willingness on Thursday to go after Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn., for the 2007 Minneapolis bridge collapse, while saying that the populist argument it is building against Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., will continue, even if the presumptive Republican presidential nominee taps the son of a truck driver as his running mate.
"I don't think it's particularly relevant who the running mate is if the running mate is willing to embrace, in total, the Bush-McCain economic doctrine," Obama strategist David Axelrod told ABC News.
"Every day, Americans understand that those policies aren't working for them," he continued. "And if you have one more person out there saying we've made 'great progress' on our economy and that we ought to continue doing what we're doing, I'd be eager to have him travel far and wide. I think it's a losing message."
"Whoever he picks, it doesn't change the fact that it's John McCain's agenda on the ballot," added David Plouffe. The Obama campaign manager joined Axelrod at a breakfast with reporters in Denver, which was held on the same day that Obama is set to deliver a speech accepting the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.
Some GOP strategists have speculated in private about whether Pawlenty's odds of becoming McCain's running mate improved vis-a-vis Mitt Romney, in the wake of the Arizona senator's seeming inability to tell Politico how many houses he owns.
Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who ran against McCain for the Republican presidential nod, is a multimillionaire with four houses to his name.
Trying to undermine Romney in advance of a possible vice presidential announcement, the Obama campaign has been steadily painting him as an "expert" on "Cayman Island tax shelters."
"You couldn't have a more out of touch ticket," Plouffe recently told The Atlantic magazine.
Pawlenty, by contrast, owns only one house.
He recently told ABC's Jan Crawford Greenburg that he owns a $335,000 suburban home outside Minneapolis, and was quick to note that he still pays the mortgage and cuts his own grass.
Obama adviser Robert Gibbs acknowledged that a Pawlenty pick would leave the Democrats with less populist ammunition than a Romney selection. Gibbs was quick to add, however, that there is a "treasure trove" of other issues that can be used against Pawlenty, including the 2007 Minneapolis bridge collapse which killed 13.
"Each of these guys have their own thing," Gibbs told ABC News. "It would be nice to talk about Romney's stuff. But just because McCain picks a guy with only one house doesn't mean that we're going to stop talking about McCain's seven houses."
August 28, 2008 in Hunter, Duncan, Kucinich, Dennis, Romney, Mitt, Tancredo, Tom, Thompson, Fred | Permalink | User Comments (175)
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"He recently told ABC's Jan Crawford Greenburg that he owns a $335,000 suburban home outside Minneapolis and was quick to note that he still pays the mortgage and cuts his own grass."
So he bought a house that he could afford instead of opting for the indicted slumlord financing?
Posted by: Mack | Aug 28, 2008 5:54:48 PM
... and so we continue with the "politics of hope" ... what a bunch of deceitful people this Obama Campaign is ... Clinton Democrats are going to jump to McCain!!
Posted by: Francisco Cardenas | Aug 28, 2008 5:55:29 PM
Only one house?
HE'S NOT A REPUBLICAN.
Posted by: 08AMA ALL THE WAY! | Aug 28, 2008 5:58:11 PM
Francisco,
I think at this point you're really only speaking for yourself. Good luck, buddy.
Posted by: Topher | Aug 28, 2008 6:06:45 PM
it is a sure sign of desperation that all the Obama campaign can do is dwell and dwell on this silly house issue, when there is really nothing left for them to attack. You know what? Nobody cares. Not only are Obama and Biden clearly rich and elitists, but do recall that the Kennedy's are the epitome of elitist and wealth, and FDR, one of our greatest Presidents, comes from a hugely wealthy ancestry.
It's not an issue. At all.
Posted by: decentAmerican | Aug 28, 2008 6:12:34 PM
On average, the Republican ticket would still have 4 houses per candidate, as comapared to the Democratic ticket with 1.
On average.
Posted by: Fred | Aug 28, 2008 6:15:41 PM
Nothing left on McCain to attack? Keating Five? Cheating on his first wife then leaving her for the rich beer heiress? Lobbyists up to his neck? McCain's mental instability?
Do you want McCain's problems alphabetically or chronologically?
Posted by: Anon | Aug 28, 2008 6:18:43 PM
Can't wait for the election to be over so all these democrats can go back into their hole for 4 more years!
Posted by: InTune | Aug 28, 2008 6:18:54 PM
Mack, you should do some research on that "slum-lord financing." Let me know what you turn up.
Posted by: Billy | Aug 28, 2008 6:19:31 PM
Ugh. Why can't the Obama campaign, media, et al, wait to start the attacks on McCain's VP until the VP is actually announced?
How stupid will it look if the person being attacked is not in the end McCain's VP pick?
Posted by: None of the Above 08 | Aug 28, 2008 6:19:34 PM
Isn't the bridge collapse just a little low, even for the Obama campaign?!
Posted by: samhiguchi | Aug 28, 2008 6:19:47 PM
I was a POW and if weren't for the fact that I was a POW, I would have a lot more issues that I could dwell and dwell on. But I was a POW, so that explains that.
What was the question again?
BTW: Did I mention that I was a POW?
Posted by: SpeakingForMcCain | Aug 28, 2008 6:20:05 PM
Francisco and et al,
The GOP campaign managers have brought this upon themselves. McCain is the one who started slinging the mud. Go back and look at the ads and timing!
Posted by: art | Aug 28, 2008 6:21:23 PM
She I bet he has a lot of foreign policy experience? Will McCain point that out. Other question - does he know how to use a computer and do any Republicans know how or do they all use their "staff" for e-mail?
Posted by: Greg | Aug 28, 2008 6:21:25 PM
Just keep telling yourself that until it's true.
Posted by: Anonymous coward | Aug 28, 2008 6:21:28 PM
I am somewhat confused as to how Biden is an elitist when his net worth is $150,000...
Posted by: MPC | Aug 28, 2008 6:21:33 PM
Obama your own personal Messiah for the left-wing nuts! Gotta love a guy who makes campaign speeches to the Europeans since he thinks he's going to be Ruler of the World if elected. What an egotistical empty suit. Just like "Plugs" Biden.
Posted by: Realist2008 | Aug 28, 2008 6:22:01 PM
Shooting starts look pretty for a short period of time,
Then they burn out and dissapear.
Thanx for a fun filled campaign BO.
America loves to see a Star fall!
Posted by: azkmb | Aug 28, 2008 6:22:03 PM
But decentAmerican misses the point entirely. The issue isn't being wealthy, the issue is being wealthy and using that as an excuse not to recognize that jobs for real Americans are disappearing and poverty is increasing. The Kennedys and Roosevelts were wealthy and geared their public lives around giving something back to the less fortunate.
Posted by: Joe | Aug 28, 2008 6:22:32 PM
"it is a sure sign of desperation that all the Obama campaign can do is dwell and dwell on this silly house issue, when there is really nothing left for them to attack. You know what? Nobody cares"
You wish.
The Republicans have been attacking Democrats on the basis of "symbolism" - like flag pins and expensive haircuts - for TWENTY FIVE YEARS.
Obama is the first Democrat to recognize the effective of the tactic, and stuff it back down your right-wing throats.
GOOD.
It's the food YOU COOKED.
Now EAT IT.
Posted by: Iggy | Aug 28, 2008 6:23:22 PM
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