Campaigning for Re-Election Is ‘Not Fun,’ Analyst Says
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Tom Pennington/Getty Images(CHARLOTTE, N.C.) — After the speeches, flying confetti and dancing delegates of the Democratic National Convention fade, the fun is over for the Obama campaign, ABC’s political analyst Matt Dowd said Thursday on the ABC/Yahoo convention live show.
“Campaigning for a re-election is not as fun. It becomes work,” Dowd said. “Keeping the hill is a lot harder and a lot different emotion than taking the hill.”
How difficult it is for the president to maintain his spot at the top could be influenced, in large part, by the latest jobs report, which will be released Friday morning, just hours after President Obama delivered his convention acceptance speech.
Whether that report shows improvement in the unemployment rate or more stagnation could make the difference between a sustained bump in the polls for the president or a flat line response to his convention hype, Dowd said.
“That jobs report could put water in the gas tank that they’ve revved up,” Dowd told ABC’s Amy Walter and Rick Klein during the Democratic Convention show.
If the economy added less than 100,000 jobs, Dowd said the report “could completely dampen what has happened over the past few days” at the convention. But if that report shows significant progress, adding 200,000 jobs, Dowd said it could have an impact on the election, propelling Obama to maintain any bump in the polls stemming from his party’s three-day rally in Charlotte, N.C.
“If they don’t get a bounce [in the polls] that’s problematic for them,” Dowd said. “The question is how sustainable is it?”
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