President Obama is taking his deficit-reduction plans – and his pitch for re-election – on the road this week. But he’s also reaching into critical swing states without ever leaving the White House. Obama is sitting for a series of “exclusive” interviews with local television news reporters from battleground states he needs to win in 2012, taking an opportunity to speak more directly to voters, something the president admittedly failed to do in the months leading up to the last fall’s midterm elections.
“He wants to frame the issues, he wants to frame the budget debate – and especially in states where people are really in the middle,” said Leonard Steinhorn, an American University professor and former political consultant. “These are the persuadable people. These are the people he wants.”
Obama hosted at the White House news anchors from three swing states he won in 2008 – Colorado, Indiana and North Carolina – as well as Texas, where he is an underdog, in his third round of local interviews since February.
“You’ve got to reach Americans where they are,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said. “A lot of Americans still get a large amount of their news from local television.”
Seven of the 10 local TV news reporters invited to the White House in the last two months were from swing states Obama won in 2008 but which voted for a Republican, former President George W. Bush, four years earlier.
The interviews are in addition to trips Obama will make this week two swing states, Virginia and Nevada, to talk about deficit reduction.
“Clearly he is looking toward the Electoral College vote count from November,” said Saul Anuzis, a Republican strategist. “It’s a very calculated, very political move.”
The White House denies selecting states based on Obama’s campaign needs.
“We look at different states, different markets, where the president wants to carry his message,” Carney said. “This is a continuing process. I’m sure by the time my time is done here, we will have hit a vast array of regional TV markets.”
Carney said the president is employing local news stations because that’s where most Americans get their news.
“It would be nice if these were the days when a vast majority of the American audience tuned into Walter Cronkite,” Carney said. “That’s just not the case anymore.”
Anuzi argued the president is fraternizing with local reporters in the hopes of putting a more positive spin on his message – something lost in the more skeptical national media coverage.
“He would rather go and speak to the local reporters who are less versed in what is going on in the national political scene because you can expect a better story out of that,” Anuzi said. “These guys are all going to be excited to get what will be – for all practical purposes – a celebrity interview, for local reporters who usually don’t get a chance to meet and talk to the president.”
Local reporters won’t necessarily shy away from tough questions, Steinhorn said. But local media helps the president make a more personal connection with viewers.
“He is establishing personal contact within the local context,” Steinhorn said. “He can speak directly to people through their local anchors.”
