50 days and counting down

There are 50 days left in the presidential campaign and if Sen. Barack Obama is to win, he quickly needs to change strategy.

Obama must get 90 percent or more of the Black vote, 70 or more percent of females, and at least 20 percent of those who claim to be independent if he wants to win in less than two months from today.

Sen. John McCain is avoiding urban America like the plague -- he and his running mate is focusing on the suburbs and rural American instead.

If I was advising him, following is my plan to get the three aforementioned groups -- none of which are locks in the Obama camp.

One, there are 14 million Black registered voters, and 9 million of them did not vote for Obama during the primaries. Therefore, he should do weekly teleconference calls with the Black press: mainstream media isn't going to get his message out to urban America -- the Black press is better at doing that.

Two, send Sen. Hilary Clinton out to address the women. If she is committed to helping Obama win as she claimed during the convention, then action and words are better than a glorified speech. She can rally the females, which would truly negate McCain's Sarah Palin, who really is speaking to the White male gun-toters.

Then have her husband, former President Bill Clinton, follow up right after his wife, to charm the masses. No one can give an impromtu speech better than Clinton, who also could follow after Obama to help seal the deal.

Third, Obama must go on radio talk shows (this is what Warren Ballentine has been saying for the longest). But in addition to Black radio program, which Ballentine suggest, I would add that Obama also hit those middle of the road outlet, and take only listeners' questions.

There will be some crazies who will call in, but that can be easily negated with the good ones. This way, the senator is speaking directly to the people, listening to them and answering them. It would be his own town hall meeting, and every city has a talk station or something close to it.
Don't go to those right-wing stations because Obama isn't going to win over those folk.

Fourth, Obama must stay on message every time he speaks. Get your points on every pertinent issue every time the camera and microphone is on. This gives him a free 30-second TV and radio spot because the media are covering him. This would go further than those political ads, and would hit those independents.

Finally, if the Democrats are to win the White House for the first time in this century, then every one of them must get out on the campaign trail. Send Joe Biden to the small towns. As mentioned earlier, send out the Clintons. And where is the Congressional Black Causus -- they should be speaking out more for Obama, talking to the Black press as well, doing the attacking on McCain and Palin, exposing the lies and deceitfulness of the GOP campaign.

The 50-day hourglass sand is running.