Former Gov. Mabus & Congressman Carson: Barack Wins in the Red States
By T. Neil Sroka, SC Obama Staff - Dec 17th, 2007 at 8:22 pm EST
Former Mississippi Gov. Ray Mabus (center) and former Oklahoma Congressman Brad Carson joined former South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Joe Erwin, who endorsed Barack last week, spoke in the Upstate this morning about Senator Obama's "red state" appeal.
The former Governor of one of the reddest states in the country (one that hasn't voted for a Democratic nominee since 1956), Mabus is backing Barack Obama for President for more than a few reasons.I'm for Barack Obama for a lot of reasons. One, I think he's got the vision, character, and leadership that can take America where America needs to go and help America live up to its continuing promise. But the second reason is just a pure practical political reason: I think Barack Obama has the best chance of winning in November. He has the best chance of beating whoever the Republican nominee is, and you see it in polling data. Barack Obama appeals to Independents and Republicans.
While Gov. Mabus' point about Independent and Republican interest in Barack Obama certainly plays out in the numbers, it also means, Mabus noted, that a Republican nominee would have to fight for "every single vote, in every single state," rather than just counting on more traditionally conservative states -- states like Mississippi and South Carolina -- to go his way without effort.
Former Congressman Carson backed up Gov. Mabus thoughts by noting the powerful, positive effect a nominee with the ability to win over Republican and Independent voters would have on Democrats running for down-ballot, state and local elected positions.I've talked to people in the State legislature of my home state and I've talked to people that are hoping to run for office and they all agree on one thing: "That our best chance to win in difficult territories, like Oklahoma, is to have a candidate, like Barack Obama, who wants to turn the page of the past twenty years of divisive, polarizing, and gridlocked politics.
"Barack Obama, Fmr. Congressman Carson concluded, is one of the few politicians who is able bridge an almost impossible range of racial, political, and geographic divides and get the support of people who thought they'd never vote for a Democrat.
I've talked to people and they haven't voted for a Democratic candidate in ten, twenty, sometimes thirty years, and they say to me, 'You know, if Obama is the nominee, I think I will vote Democratic this time'...I come from a place where Democrats find a tough going many times and Barack Obama is the person who can break through that wall of indifference that so many people show to Democratic party...So, I think when people in South Carolina look around and ask, "Who can win this race?" I believe that, in the places I come from
, Senator Barack Obama is the right candidate to do just that.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/tneil/CCnP