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Dem Strategist Sees Challenges For Obama, Political Players: Doug Schoen Says Illinois Senator Has A Problem With Working Class Voters - CBS News

CBSNews.com: The Democratic presidential race is now winding down--and yet, Senator Clinton still won a 35 point victory in Kentucky this week, another massive win among white working class voters. How serious is Senator Obama's problem with that group? And does he actually have to win them in a general election?

Doug Schoen: Well, he's got to win them somewhere in the general election. And it is a serious problem. I mean, he’s probably not going to win West Virginia. He's got to win Pennsylvania, Ohio, He’ll probably lose Florida and try to make up for that in the West and Mountain States. But the answer simply is it is a real, ongoing problem for him.

CBSNews.com: And has he shown any serious signs of recognizing the problem, or doing something to confront it?

Doug Schoen: I think he recognizes it. I'm not sure he's done anything yet to directly confront it.

CBSNews.com: What do you think he should do?

Doug Schoen: Well, I think that he needs, first, to develop a program that reaches out to working class white voters. Second, I think he should consider someone like Senator Clinton or New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg as a running mate, to speak directly to the economic concerns of working class voters. And third, I think he needs to start focusing his campaign where he both has done badly and needs to win.

CBSNews.com: And what kind of an economic program does that need to be?

Doug Schoen: I think he needs to lay out a comprehensive economic message of what he's going to do to revitalize the economy, deal with the sub-prime crisis, and create good paying jobs for working people.

CBSNews.com: Now Obama’s campaign points out that he won whites in Oregon and Virginia and Wisconsin, and he won them in Iowa--where he spoke this week to declare that he has a majority of the pledged delegates. So how do you explain the difference between his performance in those states versus Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Texas?

Doug Schoen: I think the states that he has done well in are either states that have a more liberal tradition, a more progressive tradition, particularly for Democratic primary voters--or states where the white electorate tends to be, in a Democratic primary, somewhat further to the left.

But mainstream working class voters in states like--you can go across the board--Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, Florida, all prove to be problematic for him. So I think he's got a problem. And he's got a couple a states he's done okay in. But they do not, to me, suggest that the problem is solved.

CBSNews.com: And to what extent do you think there are some white voters who will never vote for an African-American for President? Or do you think that the racial component of this is overstated?

Doug Schoen: I think the racial component is overstated. I think people have doubts about Barack. I think they have doubts about his program. And I think they have some doubts about people like Reverend Wright. And I don't think that is necessarily racially motivated, though I would suggest that black liberation theology and some of the outrageous things that Reverend Wright has said certainly raise the specter of concern about race--separate and apart from Barack Obama--with working class voters who might be very, very concerned with the message.

Labels: Election 2008, Obama, the middle-class