OBAMA'S PROBLEM WITH WHITE SUBURBAN WOMEN

Do not ignore the lady in red

According to the most recent NBC/WSJ poll, Obama has a six-point advantage over McCain.

But for me, the most interesting aspect of the survey is that McCain has a six-point advantage over Obama among white suburban women (44 to 38), who constitute 10% of the national electorate.

The same poll concludes that Obama's lead would expand to a nine-point lead if he added Clinton as his running mate, despite evidence of many voters' strong negative association with her.

Given these numbers, how can anybody argue that Clinton would be a net loss? And in response to some of the comments left on this post, how can anybody argue that the selection of a VP doesn't matter? A 3 percentage point swing would have altered the results in 1992, 2000, and 2004, just to name a few.

(Thanks to my $50,000 question on Millionaire, I'm suddenly an expert on election results.)

I have no idea why any Clinton-supporting white suburban woman would vote for McCain over Obama, except for reasons related to prejudice, ignorance of issues, or irrational bitterness. (Is McCain's clear anti-choice record not common knowledge?)

But these numbers reflect a reality that Obama needs to figure out a way to reach out to white suburban women.

And therefore, despite my own personal objections with Senator Clinton, I remain convinced that Obama should consider her for the VP slot.

*

I suppose one other way that Obama could overcome his problem with white suburban women is to simply hope that this excerpt from the book The Real McCain by Cliff Schecter gets more mainstream coverage:

In his 1992 Senate bid, McCain was joined on the campaign trail by his wife, Cindy, as well as campaign aide Doug Cole and consultant Wes Gullett. At one point, Cindy playfully twirled McCain's hair and said, 'You're getting a little thin up there.' McCain's face reddened, and he responded, 'At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt.'

Like, for example, in this video below. (NSFW!)

--Junichi