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The Clinton camp in North Carolina are keen to tell their story, the Obama camp not so much

James Forsyth

Tuesday, 6th May 2008

Call this typical press arrogance, but in every race I’ve followed in this primary process, the campaign most open to the press has won. By this measure, we’re in for a shock tomorrow in North Carolina.

This evening I called in at both the Clinton and Obama offices in Raleigh. At the Clinton HQ, after some gentle ribbing about my failure to remove my credentials from the Obama event earlier, I was ushered in to talk to the field director who happily chatted away about their operation which sounds formidable. Significantly, the Clinton team here is made up of people who have yet to lose to the Obama campaign.

By contrast, at the Obama office I had to call the press line before speaking to a volunteer as ‘staff don’t talk to the press.’

In all seriousness, I don’t think this means that the Clintons will pull off a shock win here tomorrow night. But it is indicative of which campaign is happier with how it has all gone—certainly, the 'staff don’t talk to the press' line didn’t apply in South Carolina where the Obama campaign were more than happy to explain how their field operation worked.