Obama Senior Advisor Robert Gibbs On 2012 Enthusiasm: “Nobody Is Sitting Up Here Saying This Is 2008.” CNN’S CANDY CROWLEY: “If voters understand the magnitude of what the president faced when he first got into office, and if they understand the figures that I think that we heard from the two governors and the mayor here, why is this race so close? Clearly, there’s something wrong, because it is not only that the numbers in the horse race are close, but it is that the enthusiasm among Latinos and the enthusiasm among young in some cases is double-digits down from four years ago.” OBAMA SENIOR ADVISOR ROBERT GIBBS: “Well, Candy, nobody is sitting up here saying this is 2008. What has happened since the election in 2008 and right now, again, is this huge economic calamity caused by a series of bad decisions that were made before the president ever got there. Look, this election was always going to be close, because we live in a closely divided country. I remind people all of the time that just four years ago everyone was talking about the president’s landslide, and he got 53% of the vote. So, let’s understand that we live in a very closely divided electorate, and we have for quite some time and this election was quite frankly always going to be close, but it is an important fundamental choice about where we go from here.” (CNN’s “State Of The Union,” 9/2/12)

DNC Convention Chair Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D –Los Angeles, CA): “We Had A Banner Year In 2008. Obviously, We’re Not Going To Have That Kind Of Year This Time Around.” FOX’S CHRIS WALLACE: “Why do you think this is going to be such a tough election?”  MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA: “Well it’s going to be a tough election for a lot of reasons. The country is evenly divided and has been for a long time. Two we had a banner year in 2008. Obviously we’re not going to have that kind of year this time around. They have a lot of money and they are raising over what a billion 3 in these Super PACs that engage in super smears so we are going to have our work cut out for us. I think in the end we will win.  WALLACE: “Mayor, we’ll have to leave it there. Good luck this week.” (Fox’s Fox News Sunday, 9/2/12)