Politico reports on 1911 United, a super PAC formed by two historically black fraternities celebrating their 100th anniversary last year. The group will spend its money primarily locating black voters in swing states who haven’t participated in the political process and getting them to vote for the re-election of President Obama.
That’s the goal, anyway. But those efforts come as Tufts University researchers report that young voters in a number of swing states — including North Carolina and Nevada — are much less enthusiastic about voting in 2012 than they were in 2008 and that Democrats are the biggest losers. North Carolina’s Democrats have suffered a net loss of nearly 40,000 registrants in the 18-25 age group. That’s roughly three times Obama’s 2008 margin of victory in the Tar Heel State.
The bottom line: The president’s ground game this time will be a lot different than it was in 2008. Money that could be spent expanding his base might be competing with funds that try to convince people who voted for him last time to go to the polls again.
In any event, the 2012 campaign won’t be cheap.