High-income, well-educated Dems' Obama support not enough for nomination

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT/AP: Achievers' Support Not Enough for Obama
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 22, 2007

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Barack Obama is running well among high-earning, well-educated Democrats in the race for his party's 2008 presidential nomination. But unless he can broaden his appeal, he risks mimicking past flameouts by Gary Hart, Paul Tsongas and Bill Bradley.

Those three highbrow Democrats found support from the party's upper-echelon voters and, like Obama, created a lot of early buzz. In the end, all lost the presidential nomination to rivals with wider followings.

A recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll showed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York leading Obama by 33 percent to 21 percent among Democrats and those leaning toward the party, with other candidates dividing the rest. A major source of Clinton's lead was women, who favored her over the fledging Illinois senator by 2-to-1.

But Clinton also held big advantages over Obama among lower-income, less educated Democrats. That included a 4-to-1 edge among people earning less than $25,000 a year and a nearly 3-to-1 margin with people who have not attended college. With the two roughly splitting support from the best-educated, highest-earning Democrats, that spells potential trouble for Obama....

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Obama's weaker showing among lesser-educated and lower-earning people is partly because many people are not yet following a race in which voting doesn't start for seven months. That gives Clinton an early edge because virtually everyone has heard of her....In addition, Obama's message of optimism and new approaches tends to be attractive to better-off Democrats, political professionals say. Clinton also has a bank of good will with lower-income voters because of their strong bond with her husband, former President Clinton....

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Obamas-Achiever-Problem.html

[BeyondGeography]

1. The question is who is better positioned to break ground on the other's territory

I'm biased, but Obama the community organizer who has actually lived and worked in inner cities on behalf of the urban poor would seem to have a shot here.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. I'm also an Obama supporter...

and I hope he's not caught in this trap of recent history. I think he has a rare gift, which I expect will, in the end, determine his career trajectory.