Obama led a rally for Democrats last week in Detroit.
By Ronald J. Hansen || Arizona Republic
Arizona Democrats are hoping former President Barack Obama’s scheduled visit to metro Phoenix on Wednesday will help lock in extra votes from Democrats who are perhaps less enthusiastic for their ticket.
They also hope independents are watching, too.
Obama’s visit to Cesar Chavez High School in Laveen Village may bring a measure of star power to Democratic efforts to reelect Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and boost gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs by turning out their left-leaning base, especially Latinos.
But they also need the former president, who lost Arizona by 8 and 9 percentage points in his runs for president, to help extend recent Democratic success in the state with the crucial bloc of independents who could help settle the statewide races.
Chuck Coughlin, president and CEO of HighGround, a political consulting firm, said about a quarter of the Arizona electorate will be independents and Obama can help the Democratic ticket reach out to them.
“He can be a critical messenger to those people because he harkens back to, let’s just say, a less-complex time in American politics,” Coughlin said. “I think there’s a hunger for that in the electorate, that optimism that things can be OK. He can be that messenger if that’s what he chooses to do.”
‘There’s nothing more fundamental than democracy’
