Before a Burlington, Iowa rally today a Barack Obama campaign aide broke up my interview with a volunteer whom I'd sought to question about why she favors the candidate. The young woman indicated the campaign doesn't want the volunteers to say anything that strays off message, and directed me to the campaign media staff.
Obama's Iowa press secretary Tommy Vietor confirmed that the campaign trains its volunteers not to talk to reporters.
"There's a reason we have a campaign spokesman - that's their job," Vietor told me. When I insisted I merely wanted to question the volunteer about her personal thoughts, and not ask about proposals or campaign message, Vietor pointed to the (unaffiliated) supporters arriving at the Port of Burlington for the rally and said: "Ask any of these folks."
