A peek at Obama re-election digs in Chicago

Posted by Rick Pearson at 1:08 p.m.

While it has a dazzling view that overlooks Millennium Park and Lake Michigan, President Barack Obama’s re-election headquarters in downtown Chicago isn’t necessarily much to look at on the inside, based on a quick tour offered today by the campaign.

Occupying a whole floor of about 50,000 square feet in the Prudential building that is formally known as One Prudential Plaza, the campaign setup features long rows of tables for dozens of staffers and volunteers. But the campaign is still moving into the space and only a few dozen staffers were there, working on laptop computers or on the telephone.

The new space compares to the 31,000-square-foot headquarters the Obama campaign operated from across Michigan Avenue for the 2008 campaign.

Only a select few have actual office space, including Jim Messina, the former deputy White House chief of staff who serves as campaign manager, along with deputy campaign managers Jen O’Malley Dillon and Juliana Smoot.

more

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2011/05/a-peak-at-obama-re-election-headquarters-in-chicago.html

A dozen state maps on the wall including these four states Obama lost and these that Obama won--Florida, Colorado, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. Seems like these are the target states this election. Does Obama really have a chance in these four states?

No chance in Georgia. And although the demographics in South Carolina would suggest it should always be Democratic. The state is full of dumbasses.

It may be overly ambitious, but flipping Texas and/or the coastal southern states would put the Republicans in a very deep hole.

The list of states in the article is interesting; assuming Obama/Biden won all of them and held onto CA, NY, and MA, it would put them over the top (even if the Republicans won everything else and somehow started flipping places like Maryland and Washington).

...to force the Republican candidate to spend a bunch of money he doesn't want to spend in states that he shouldn't have to worry about. This will take money and volunteers away from true battleground states like Florida and Ohio.

Ambitious, but I don't see it happening.