
The campaign of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, is starting to look towards the general election in North Carolina. The campaign is relaunching its Twitter and Facebook accounts today, and will open up a batch of new offices across the state soon.
“Hillary for North Carolina staff, grassroots organizers, activists, and volunteers will use these platforms to recruit campaign volunteers, share ongoing grassroots organizing events, and have conversations with communities about the issues that matter to North Carolinians as well as Hillary Clinton’s vision for an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top,” the Clinton campaign said in a statement.
The campaign’s push is tangible, as well; they’re opening six new offices across the state in the coming weeks, and have included N.C. in every television ad buy for the general election. It looks like it’s paying off – a new NBC News/Wall St. Journal/Marist poll gives Clinton a six-point lead in North Carolina.
While the relaunch of some social media accounts is not a big deal, what’s newsworthy here is that Clinton is actually trying to win battleground states, while her orange opponent’s strategy seems to be, “We’re gonna do great in [insert state here].” And the national GOP, which is supposed to be more organized, is struggling too; a recent AP story on the GOP’s ground game in battleground states showed that it, well, sucks:
With early voting beginning in less than three months in some states, the review reveals that the national GOP has delivered only a fraction of the ground forces detailed in discussions with state leaders earlier in the year. And that is leaving anxious local officials waiting for reinforcements to keep pace with Democrat Hillary Clinton in the states that matter most in 2016.
Combined with Trump’s notorious campaign problems – a former staffer accused Trump’s campaign of corruption, he’s raised one-fifth of what Clinton has, and the campaign has spent millions of dollars on Trump companies – the Clinton campaign is putting itself in a good position to win here in November, even though it’s common knowledge that Clinton doesn’t need North Carolina to get to 270 electoral votes.
Considering what that means for other races on the ticket, including for governor, U.S. Senate, and state legislature seats, Roy Cooper and Deborah Ross must be pretty happy right now.
Correction: This post originally said that the offices would be opening in the coming months; rather, they’re opening in the coming weeks.