The Democratic Party’s superstar just left the Robert Treat Hotel after delivering a rousing passionate get out the vote stump speech. This is the first political rally for Barack Obama ever since leaving office and he chose New Jersey, a blue state with one of only two in the nation, with a governor’s race this off-year election. Democrat Phil Murphy has a 14- to 15-point lead in the polls, but that doesn’t count unless people actually go to the polls Nov. 7. So Thursday, the 44th president’s mission was to rally the base.
“I don’t care what polls say, I don’t care what the pundits say,” said Obama. “What matters is what’s happening in communities, and what’s happening in neighborhoods, and what’s happening on your block, and what’s happening in your townships. Elections matter. Every vote counts.”
It’s a cliché to say the room felt electrified, but the room felt electrified. Obama told people don’t ever take that 15-point lead for granted. He said you will regret it.
“You can’t take this election or any election for granted. I don’t know if y’all had noticed that, but you can’t take any election for granted. You’ve got to run through the tape just like sports.” he said.
Obama didn’t go negative against Donald Trump. But he did obviously consider the so-called “Trump Factor.” A recent FDU PublicMind poll showed one in four likely voters in New Jersey, and one in three Democratic voters, are considering Trump in their decision about who to support in the governor’s race. Fourty-four percent of Democrats say that they will use their vote to send a message a Washington to say that they’re dissatisfied. Obama didn’t slam 45, but on the other hand, he did note Phil Murphy will preserve Obama’s policies in New Jersey.
“There’s only one candidate who’s actually going to have your back for governor and one is going to have your back for lieutenant governor. Only one candidate who can bring the change that New Jersey desperately needs and that is Phil Murphy because Phil has spent his life creating jobs and growing opportunity,” said Obama. “We are rejecting politics of division, we are rejecting politics of fear that we are embracing the politics that says everybody counts, a politics that says everybody deserves a chance, politics that says everybody has dignity and worth. A politics of hope.”
Former President Obama’s headed to Virginia to stump for the democratic candidate there. Whether his touch-and-go here has any impact on turnout, that has to be determined. There’s still 19 days to go in this campaign before the election. There is another Democratic luminary due in town soon to help campaign for Phil Murphy. Hillary Clinton is scheduled to make a private campaign stop for Murphy on Sunday.
