May 15 (Bloomberg) -- The Republicans are facing an uphill battle against a fresh-faced Democrat for a third term in the White House, and they are reaching for a familiar playbook: crime.
It worked in 1988; it will be tried again in 2008.
With Illinois Senator Barack Obama almost certain to be the Democratic nominee, Republican groups are focusing on his vulnerabilities. They are highlighting some of his votes during his eight years in the Illinois state legislature, from opposing extending the death penalty for gang members to refusing to back restrictions on porn shops and saying he supports the ``decriminalization'' of marijuana.
``I would be amazed if crime was not used extensively to show how out of step this guy is with the mainstream of America,'' said Tony Fabrizio, a Republican strategist unaffiliated with the campaign of the party's presumptive nominee, Arizona Senator John McCain. Fabrizio said Obama's crime votes, in particular, were ``something visceral.''
``If McCain's people and Republicans run the right campaign against Barack Obama, John McCain can win in a landslide,'' Fabrizio said.