Obama Chief of Staff Calls McCain a ‘Schmuck’

Jim Messina, Barack Obama’s chief of staff, said Wednesday that if John McCain continues to be a “schmuck” the Obama campaign will be able to compete just about anywhere it wants.

“Let’s do some math,” Messina said during an Iowa delegate breakfast in which he spoke about Obama’s prospects in traditionally red states.

“If Senator McCain continues to be the schmuck he’s being, we’re going to play there, you know, and go tell some truth,” Messina said speaking of McCain’s home state of Arizona.

“The national polls don’t matter to us. We don’t look at them in Chicago. We focus on the 18 states we have to have to win this election,” Messina added. “We care more about the enthusiasm gap in the campaign in the daily polling than we do the head-to-head.”

Messina also said the Obama camp currently has 2,504 people on staff.