British voters will decide once and for all which Obama campaign adviser is best

WaPo ^ | 5/28/14 | Philip Bump

[ghost of stonewall jackson]

Congratulations to the good people of the United Kingdom who, "American Idol"-like, have been selected to act as judges on a vitally important question: Who's better at winning political campaigns, David Axelrod or Jim Messina?

If those names don't ring a bell, perhaps you are one of the unbiased Brits selected for this important task. So: Axelrod was the chief strategist for President Obama's 2008 and 2012 campaigns; Messina was campaign manager for the 2012 bid. Since last August, Messina has served as an adviser to British prime minister David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party. (This is the juncture at which Messina, were he here, would probably interject to say that British Conservatives aren't like American conservatives, and he would have a point.) Cameron faces a significant threat in next year's planned parliamentary elections, however, in the form of Labour's Ed Miliband. (This is the juncture at which you should go read this post, titled, "Is Ed Miliband too 'weird' to be British prime minister?") Miliband, as you may have guessed, hired Axelrod in April to guide him to victory. (This is the juncture at which you read the Times more robust history of the dynamics, if you wish.)

[ghost of stonewall jackson]

the Tories, barely to the right of the democrats

[vbmoneyspender]

Are the Obama advisors both taking credit for the success of UKIP?

[SoFloFreeper]

Go UKIP, Britain.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

As one of the commentators pointed out, the UK and US political campaign structure is completely different. In a UK Parliamentary election, it is about policies and parties, not the people who lead them. American style character assassinations won’t work. Of all the four main party leaders, Cameron is the one I despise and loathe the most, but it won’t stop me voting Conservative because they are the only ones with both the ability and willingness to get us out of the EU.