NYT, pg1: Eyes on Blue-Collar Voters, Obama Shifts Style

Eyes on Blue-Collar Voters, Obama Shifts Style
By JEFF ZELENY and ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: April 28, 2008

ANDERSON, Ind. — Senator Barack Obama is making subtle changes to his campaign style and message in an effort to strengthen his appeal to blue-collar voters and to avoid a defeat in Indiana that aides fear could give Democratic Party leaders further pause about his viability in a general election.

On Sunday, Mr. Obama went to a Methodist church in Indianapolis, the kind of event rarely on his public schedule. He suited up for a game of basketball on Friday night before television cameras. And the big, energy-filled stadium rallies that were the bread and butter for most of his campaign have once again given way to smaller town-hall-style meetings, where he is seen talking with people and not at them.

Mr. Obama is seeking to absorb the lessons of his defeat in Pennsylvania. The changes reflect concern that he is being portrayed by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as distant and culturally out of touch with many working-class Democrats, a worry underlined by her lopsided victory among many of those voters in that state on Tuesday and last month in Ohio.

Mr. Obama, in an appearance with Chris Wallace broadcast over the weekend on “Fox News Sunday,” played down his problems among blue-collar voters, saying that Mrs. Clinton had done better in part because “they are less familiar with me than they are with her, and so we probably have to work harder.” “I’ve got to be more present,” he said. “I’ve got to be knocking on more doors. I’ve got to be hitting more events. We’ve got to work harder because although it’s flipped a little bit, we’ve always been the underdog in this race.”...

In strategy sessions last week, advisers concluded that Mr. Obama, of Illinois, needed to do a better job reminding voters of his biography, including his modest upbringing by a single mother and one of his first jobs as a community organizer helping displaced steel mill workers. He also has to sharpen his economic message, they said, to improve his appeal and connection with voters in hope of capitalizing on the sensibilities that served him well in Midwestern states....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/us/politics/28obama.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all