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What is Obama's 50 State Campaign Like?

Describing Obama's 50-state campaign in this article, Republican Strategist Alex Castellanos made this analogy.

"He is not trying to cobble together the old Democratic coalition of interest groups and get 48 percent like John Kerry," Alex Castellanos, a Republican media consultant, said in an e-mail message. "This is not three yards and a cloud of dust. This is an aggressive leap across the 50-yard line to play on Republican turf."

But in an email to me, Tuco pointed out that this is a terrible analogy.

You're supposed to contrast the short-gain running game with something more daring and risky - i.e. a pass - not another run that just happens to be at mid- field.

Agreed. So we took a few stabs trying to make the proper analogy for Obama's 50-state campaign.

Here's his:

It's like a safety blitz when you're up by 30 but mathematically eliminated from the playoffs and playing your last game in your soon-to-be-renovated stadium.

Ok, pretty good. But I think mine's a lot better:

It's like the middle of the season, your record is even, and you're down by 10 in the second quarter. You're on your own 24 yard line, 3rd and 6, with your second string quarterback playing because your first string (Hillary) got injured. You punt (Georgia) straight at the other team, hoping they'll drop the ball (Ohio) so that you can recover and get down the field (270 Electoral Votes).

Booyah.

Any other football analogies out there for Obama's campaign?

Hat tip on the original WaPo article (and also on Tuco and my e-mails): Dean Harvey

Full post as published by Expressio Unius on June 25, 2008 (boomark / email).