How Does Obama Woo 'Downscale Dems'?

How Does Obama Woo 'Downscale Dems'?
He charms elites. But how does Obama woo a must-have: 'downscale Dems'?
By Andrew Romano
Newsweek

Aug. 20-27, 2007 issue - On a sunlit Friday afternoon in July, Barack Obama stopped by Beverly Van Fossen's farm in Adel, Iowa, to speak about "rural issues." It was standard Hawkeye State stumping—until the senator took a stab at sympathizing with farmers whose crop prices have stagnated. "Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?" he asked. Unfortunately, Adel isn't exactly arugula country. "Someone near me whispered, 'What's arugula?' " says Van Fossen, 74. " 'You can't find that in Iowa'." Same goes for Whole Foods. The closest locations, reported The New York Times that evening, are in Omaha, Neb.; Kansas City, Kans., and Minneapolis. Whoops. Right-wing bloggers pounced. The dishy Wonkette called Obama a "super rich Ivy League elitist." Peter Feld, a former Michael Dukakis staffer, wrote on Powers-Point.com that a similar slip by his ex-boss—the suggestion that Iowans grow "Belgian endive"—surfaced repeatedly in 1988 attack ads. C'est la vie politique.

Obama's "arugula moment" was silly, but the underlying concern about his candidacy is not. For the past 40 years, Democratic nominating contests have pitted "wine track" candidates (backed by young, well-off, college-educated elites) against "beer track" opponents (who cultivate a less-educated coalition of minorities and blue-collar workers). The 2008 contest is no exception. According to the latest Cook Political Report survey, Hillary Clinton polls 12 points higher among voters who haven't graduated from college than those who have; Obama's numbers are reversed. His problem: only 34 percent of likely Democratic primary voters have college degrees. "If you don't develop a solid base among downscale Dems, it's very hard to get the nomination," says demographer Ruy Teixeira. Unless Obama gets off the wine track, he could end up the latest in a long line of brainy, reformist also-rans like Gary Hart, Paul Tsongas and Bill Bradley.

(snip)

Obama's team is undeterred. By most accounts, its candidate is better positioned than his predecessors to overcome the wine-track curse. "He started his career on the South Side of Chicago," says spokeswoman Candice Tolliver. "No one needs to prime him." His ace in the hole? Race. Even though polls show that blacks still have doubts about Obama, he weathered similar skepticism in the 2004 Illinois Senate primary before winning nearly all of their votes. "He soared with elites initially," says Mark Blumenthal, who polled for Obama's chief rival. "But it took until the last week of the campaign for blacks to decide." If they break his way again, says Blumenthal, Obama could ride a new black-upscale majority to the nomination. For early indicators, staffers are watching low-income, largely black South Carolina where, from April 1 to June 30, the campaign spent $480,000—four times Clinton's investment—to hire staff, stage rallies, organize house meetings and place ads on gospel and R&B radio. The result: an electorate that's more familiar with Obama—and polls that show a dead heat. "We have to do more to reach low-income voters," says South Carolina spokesman Kevin Griffis. But strong numbers heading into the Jan. 29 primary would bode well for Obama's beer-track appeal—if he can steer clear of the fancy lettuce.


URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20226452/site/newsweek/

This is the same shit they did to Kerry with the green tea - until the waitress in question said that of course they serve green tea. This is an example of the elites in DC being out of touch with mainstream Democrats, who are buying a variety of greens to spice up their salads, just like everybody else. The ironic thing is, it's THEIR arrogant assumptions that turns away rural Dems in the first place. Like calling us "downscale Dems". I dare Andrew Romano to come to my door and call me that to my face.

Arugula (Eruca vesicaria), also known as rocket, garden rocket, rocket salad, rugola, rucola , roquette and rughetta <1>, is a type of leaf vegetable, which looks like a longer leaved and open lettuce. Rocket is a herbaceaus annual or perennial; a member of the mustard family (Brassicaceae: Cruciferae). It is rich in vitamin C and iron.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arugula

It's used to liven up a salad. It's a bit strong for my taste to be eaten alone. It is expensive compared to green salad or romaine salad or iceberg lettuce.

I well remember Dukakis' Belgian endive issue, and I'm younger than Obama (and not running for President.) You'd think he'd remember not to make almost the exact same mistake. And mentioning "Whole Foods" in the same sentence? I live on the East Coast, let alone Iowa, and I've never shopped there. (I'm one of the those New Yorkers who don't exist - you know, the ones who make less than 100K a year, and as we all know, "no one can survive" in New York on less than 100K a year.)

The days of meat loaf and mashed potatoes are long gone. Everybody is a gourmet cook these days. And even if you don't have a Whole Foods, every grocery store has a wide selection of vegetables to choose from. This is an example of liberal elitism on the part of the writer, not Obama.

I beg to differ. The average American is not yet a "foodie." For one thing, it takes a lot of money.

I've never seen things like "risotto" and "ceviche" except in passing on TV in the pretentious cooking shows that are always good for a laugh. I think I'm in the majority on this. (And I've never bought arugula either. We are the silent majority!)

I've never tasted it, but I think I'd like it.

Catch up and eat something besides a fried lump of lard.

:eyes:

Perhaps Obama supporters such as yourself when responding to charges of out of touch elitism would be wise to not be so condescending.

Nobody ever said it was.

Can you say "Limousine Liberal"?

Did Obama make that comment about arugula and Whole Foods or not?

Are most people, especially in rural Iowa, familiar with arugula and Whole Foods?

If the answer to the first is YES and to the second NO then the point of the article is valid: you need to know your audience and choose your comments carefully. Especially these days of "instant replay."

And while the article tried to compare him to "brainy, reformist also-rans like Gary Hart, Paul Tsongas and Bill Bradley," I would add Gore and Kerry. Sadly, being intelligent and well educated and talking in multi syllables complete sentences leave many voters confused and doubtful.

This is why Clinton is doing so much better in the debates than Obama. She has mastered the art of short simple concise replies while Obama, and Edwards, try to provide complete paragraphs with beginning, middle and end that do not work well in a 30-sec time.

If Obama is the nominee, he will have to learn from the mistakes of Kerry and, yes, dumb down his comments to sixth grade level.

Young, old, poor, middle class, wealthy...white, black, asian, hispanic, native indian...

The so-called "arugula moment" is a non-issue, unless you want to make a non-issue "an issue". That's for lazy louts and desperados.

but when it comes down to it, there is not that much difference between most of them so it is easy to concentrate on minute items.

I'm pretty sure that's a t-shirt that wouldn't sell!

http://www.farm-garden.com/growing-vegetables/arugula