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Obama Campaign Mobilizing Grassroots Supporters in Colorado

Then-candidate Barack Obama drew large crowds campaigning in Colorado in 2008.
Photo by Kirk Siegler
Then-candidate Barack Obama drew large crowds campaigning in Colorado in 2008.

The top man in charge of President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election bid says the campaign is taking a page out of the 2008 election playbook by focusing on mobilizing grassroots support in swing-states like Colorado.  "Obama for America" campaign manager Jim Messina, who grew up in Colorado, says he’s not concerned by what he calls a perception that the campaign today is struggling to mobilize the masses that came out in 2008. 

On a conference call with reporters, Messina said more than 5,000 one-on-one meetings with past and new supporters and nearly a thousand phone bank events have happened so far this year in Colorado.

"We feel good about the grassroots operation we’re putting into place in Colorado," Messina said.  "You should expect to see a whole bunch of us on the ground between now and election day organizing every single day."

Messina and a fellow campaign official devoted more of the call to blasting presumed front runner Mitt Romney stances on the economy and other issues than they did talking about the importance of Colorado.

For their part, Colorado Republicans have predicted the poor economy won’t bode well for Mr. Obama’s chances here in 2012.

Kirk Siegler reports for NPR, based out of NPR West in California.
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