CLEVELAND — The phenomenon that has been Barack Obama’s public rallies since the start of the Democratic presidential nominating contests will probably be much studied, but already experts are saying one key to his success is simply that he has embraced his signature strength.
Even in no-nonsense, blue-collar Ohio, where Hillary Rodham Clinton leads in the polls, political experts marvel at Obama’s skills at rallying massive, adoring crowds, while also chipping away at Clinton’s once- cushy lead.
Some kind of Thrill Factor seems to be at work, experts say. The truth about the majority of voters is that they’re not that impressed with detailed policy positions.
“Obama, for whatever reason, has sort of captured people’s attention this year in a way that Hillary just can’t,” said Ohio State University political scientist Paul Allen Beck.
“I think that when voters are asked to compare the two in terms of experience, Clinton does better than Obama, but it obviously doesn’t matter to people,” Beck said. “There are plenty of other factors that enter into it as well.”
Voters don’t go to rallies for point-by-point explanations of policy, said Cleveland State University political scientist Joel Lieske.
“They go to cheer,” he said. “It’s like politics have become a national pastime now.”
Alluding to the fan section for Cleveland’s professional football team, Lieske said, “The Obamamaniacs outside the Wolstein Center, where they had the debate (Tuesday), seemed more excited than the Browns fans in the Dawg Pound.”
Recent polls in Ohio show Clinton leading Obama by anywhere from 2 to 8 percentage points.
A University of Cincinnati poll showed that Clinton’s base was holding in the Buckeye State. She carried four of the state’s five regions, was preferred by a majority of women, as well as men, and prevailed among older voters.
Further, the economy was, overwhelmingly, the most important issue to voters, and most see Clinton as stronger on fixing it.
Obama playing to state issues
Obama hasn’t contented himself solely on his rallies. The first-term senator and his campaign strategists have tried to play to key, state-specific issues.
In Ohio, where the Iraq War polls distantly behind the economy, Obama’s campaign circulated fliers that attacked Clinton for supporting the North American Free Trade Agreement, which passed during President Bill Clinton’s tenure. Some polling has indicated that fliers helped reduce Hillary Clinton’s Ohio lead.
But overall, it has been his celebrity status that has defined him.
“I think Oprah Winfrey has something to do with it,” said Dolly Fischer, a retired saleswoman from Bellaire, Ohio, who adamantly supports Clinton. “He’s too young.”
In choosing to promote the persona of a John F. Kennedy or a Martin Luther King Jr., Obama has simply, and shrewdly, played his best hand, experts say.
In politics, you go with your strengths, Beck said. Clinton’s challenge is that her potency in policy doesn’t lend itself to lofty rhetoric.
That’s “bad luck” for Clinton, says Ohio University’s John Gilliom, because policy positions are best left to candidates’ websites and books and in the debates.
“That’s actually the way I would expect a political candidate to do it,” Gilliom said. “When you go to these events, you don’t really want to hear who they’re going to appoint to the Federal Reserve board. You stay with the generalities because you are trying to generate enthusiasm.”
At a spirited town-hall rally in a gym in St. Clairsville, Ohio, Clinton countered Obama’s schtick by sticking to policy and what she described as the reality of Washington.
“I really think the people here of eastern Ohio need a president who will fight for you,” Clinton said to cheers, before launching into a discussion about stopping the outsourcing of jobs, implementing universal health care coverage, creating a new economy by building wind- and solar-power plants, and the other planks of her platform.
Chuck Plunkett: 303-954-1333 or cplunkett@denverpost.com
