Day: October 13, 2008

Republican consultant Ed Rollins notices similarities in Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful run against Barack Obama, and John McCain’s lurching strategies.

Clinton’s campaign had several different groups setting and implementing strategy. They include the first campaign team led by pollster Mark Penn, her loyalists from the White House days led by eventual campaign manager Maggie Williams and campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe, and a rump group led by her husband. Prior to this year and his efforts on his wife’s behalf, President Clinton was viewed as one of the best political strategists around.

All that brain power couldn’t come together and agree on a consistent strategy to beat a young inexperienced outsider. There will be second guessing and finger pointing for years to come.

Rollins then lists the dizzying succession of McCain advisors.

In the end, it’s not relevant who holds what title in the McCain operation, because it is not being run by campaign professionals, but by the Washington lobbying class.

And no one seems to be in charge, least of all the candidate. The end result is a campaign suffering from “schizophrenia.”

John McCain is saying one thing on the stump, his running mate another. But the worst sin is that his advertising campaign is incoherent and putting out multiple and inconsistent messages.

It’s probably too late for McCain at this point, Rollins says, but he offers a plan anyway.

All I can advise is “Engage us, John!” You are an honorable man who has dedicated your life to serving this country. Quit the name calling and make the last weeks about leadership and solutions.

Accept Obama’s challenge issued last week: “The American people aren’t looking for someone who can divide this country. They’re looking for somebody who will lead this country.”

But if Obama is right about pretty much everything, and has run a sure and steady campaign, you have to ask, “Why do we need McCain to change?” We know enough now to make our decision. It’s Obama, Obama, Obama.

The good news is being odious is really dragging down John McCain and Sarah Palin. The bad news is they might stop.

After more than a week of pitbull Palin’s assertion that Barack Obama pals around with “terr’ists,” some polls put Obama/Biden up as much as 10 points overall, with one ABC/Washington Post survey showing little doubt about who being negative is hurting.

Registered voters by a 24-point margin, 59-35 percent, now say McCain is more focused on attacking his opponent rather than addressing the issues. That’s grown from a roughly even 48-45 percent split on this question in late August.

There’s far less criticism of the tone of Obama’s campaign: Registered voters by 68-26 percent say he’s mainly addressing the issues…

In an almost unheard of circumstance these days, when people perceive everything through a filter of political affiliation, McCain’s and Palin’s behavior registers the same, regardless of party registration.

Republicans, despite their general antipathy toward Obama, don’t broadly see him as running a negative campaign; they divide essentially evenly on the question, 44-46 percent. Democrats, by contrast, overwhelmingly say McCain’s going negative, 80-16 percent.

The deciding factor, as ever in presidential politics, is independents. They see McCain as mainly attacking his opponent, by 61-33 percent, but Obama as mainly addressing the issues, by 68-26 percent.

After John McCain had to personally face the lynch mob he and Palin have fired up, his campaign is said to have had a change of heart.

The Arizona senator and Palin changed their tactics again this weekend, toning down their rhetoric and insisting to their supporters that they will battle Obama but with “respect.”

I’ll believe it when I see it. I had to endure the following piece of excrescence at least three times each during Extreme Makeover Home Edition and Brothers and Sisters last night. Doesn’t sound too respectful to me, nor does it give me much of an idea about what McCain’s plan is for the economy.