Obama for America will open office on Franklin

After four years, President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign is returning to Chapel Hill.

The Chapel Hill chapter of Obama for America for the 2012 presidential election will open at 505 W. Franklin St. in the Chapel Hill News office as early as March.

Chapel Hill News Editor Mark Schultz said the Obama campaign office will be located in the same building as the newspaper’s current office, though not in the same unit.

Schultz said he didn’t think having the campaign office located near the newspaper would create any ethical dilemmas.

“Considering we’re a local paper that’s probably not going to get involved in much presidential coverage, I don’t see how it’s going to affect our coverage of Town Council or Board of Aldermen,” Schultz said.

“We’ll just try our best to explain to people that we do not own the building, and we rent just like any other tenant here,” he said.

Matt Hughes, chairman of the Orange County Democratic Party, said six other municipalities in North Carolina have offices for Obama’s re-election campaign, including in Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, Charlotte, Wilmington and Fayetteville.

They also plan to open an office in Asheville, he said.

Hughes said the Obama campaign has maintained an office in Raleigh for the last four years — something unusual for a presidential campaign to do.

“Where the Obama campaign has set up shop … they bring visibility to the presidential campaign and to local Democrats running for office,” Hughes said. “Typically the campaign offices are only open during the election.”

Austin Gilmore, president of UNC Young Democrats, said he wants to set up an internship with the campaign that could give students course credit.

Greg Steele, chairman of UNC College Republicans, said he is not sure if any Republican candidates will open a campaign offices in Chapel Hill because of the area’s liberal background.

“This area has traditionally been a Democratic stronghold,” Steele said. “Being traditionally liberal as it is, (Democrats) won’t really need to make much of an impact here.”

He said the Republican Party might just use the county’s party headquarters located in Hillsborough as their headquarters.

But Steele said he thinks the Chapel Hill branch of Obama for America could influence voters who live in other parts of Orange County — areas that are traditionally more conservative than Chapel Hill.

“There are so many other areas of Orange County that are very Republican-leaning,” he said. “But if it can influence the rest of the county, I think that’s something that needs to be taken into consideration.”

Because the Republican primary is still ongoing, Steele said his group has not yet endorsed any candidates.

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