Posted on 04/17/2008 5:06:26 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
For reasons of financial necessity, personal preference and plain politics, John McCain is gearing up to run one of the least traditional presidential campaigns in recent history.
The problem is that even prominent strategists within McCain’s own party wonder if his unorthodox strategy will work.
Facing the prospect of competing against a Democrat who is on track to shatter every fundraising record — and confronted by his own inability to rake in large bundles of cash — McCain and his key advisers have largely been forced into devising a three-pronged strategy that they hope can turn their general election weaknesses into strengths.
McCain will lean heavily on the well-funded Republican National Committee. He will merge key functions of his campaign hierarchy with the RNC while also relying on an unconventional structure of 10 regional campaign mangers.
And finally — and perhaps most importantly — McCain will rely on free media to an unprecedented degree to get out his message in a fashion that aims to not only minimize his financial disadvantage but also drive a triangulated contrast among himself, the Democratic nominee and President Bush.
McCain advisers acknowledge they have little choice but to seek free entry into the media marketplace, as they have no chance of matching Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton in a dollar-for-dollar ad war, given that the Arizona senator’s fundraising totals pale in comparison to both his prospective opponents and the Bush-Cheney political machine.
But aides also hope they can turn necessity into virtue and argue that by facing tough questions from reporters on his bus each day and potentially even tougher ones from audience members at frequent town hall meetings, McCain will demonstrate how he’s different from two politicians who are far less accessible.
“People in the country are in a very bad mood, and they want to have change,” says Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser to McCain. “And the first place they evaluate change is through the prism of what kind of campaigns candidates are running. Voters will have an indication of the different kind of presidency he would preside over by looking at his campaign.”
Mark Salter, another top aide to McCain, says Obama is running “one buttoned-up, conventional campaign.”
“Is new politics just stadium-sized crowds and lots of money?” he asks.
But the tactics aren’t solely meant to portray the Democratic candidates as distant and McCain as grounded.
McCain aides also want to paint their guy as different from an unpopular administration that prefers secrecy to transparency and friendly crowds to unpredictable ones.
“Sen. McCain believes every American should participate in the arena, and that includes people that don’t agree with him,” Schmidt says, taking care to note that such unscripted exchanges have waned “in the last decade.”
Additionally, McCain and his advisers want to pursue voters that look different than the bare majority coalition that Bush put together twice.
“We’re running a campaign that is not designed to get 50-plus-1 percent of the vote,” says Schmidt.
Even if they can’t win in places such as California or inner cities — both of which McCain will stop in during his different-sort-of-Republican tour starting this week — they want to send a signal that he intends to at least compete for nearly every vote.
“You want to make sure that you tailor the campaign to the candidate and not other way around,” said Charlie Black, a top adviser. “And McCain sincerely believes in campaigning everywhere.”
But McCain’s campaign plan is as much about pragmatism as it is perception, despite efforts by his campaign team to create the notion that they are taking this route of their own free will.
First, his advisers can read polls and recognize the daunting right track/wrong track polling headwind that is gusting in their face.
Differences between Bush and McCain will be “discussed at great length,” promises one aide.
“He’ll be direct about it. He’s never gratuitous, never disrespectful, but there are going to be policy breaks where it couldn’t be clearer.” Two areas of difference McCain will highlight: global warming and spending.
And, quite practically, McCain doesn’t have much choice but to run a campaign that differs from the Bush model, given his lagging fundraising performance.
“It is true we’ll be outspent,” concedes Black. “But between the RNC and McCain, we’ll raise enough money.”
Indeed, to help counter their money deficit, McCain strategists now suggest that the proper comparison should be between the combined assets of the campaign and the RNC and that of their opponent and the far less flush DNC.
“The McCain camp is funded jointly” is how one adviser describes it.
By taking federal funds — something they intend to do, campaign manager Rick Davis told a closed-door meeting of chiefs of staff on Capitol Hill last week — McCain will receive $84 million.
That money, McCain aides say, will be bolstered by the $20 million in coordinated funds that they can legally direct the RNC to spend on anything they want.
Further, they’ll rely on the committee-campaign joint Victory Fund run out of the RNC, which allows contributions of up to $28,500 per person — far more than the $2,300 donors can give to individual candidates.
The Victory dollars will go into the states and be used to hire staffers, who in some cases will serve as the de facto McCain aides.
Other elements of the campaign, such as those tasked with developing coalitions and lining up surrogates, will also be placed at the RNC to save on overhead.
“Those functions that can legally be done at either [the campaign or RNC], we’ll err on the side of doing them at the RNC,” Black says. “The whole thing is under one umbrella in the way we are budgeting.”
So instead of hiring a traditional political director and field director at the headquarters, for example, they’ve so far effectively merged the functions between Davis’ deputy at the campaign, Christian Ferry, RNC adviser and former Rudy Giuliani chief Mike DuHaime, and the regional managers themselves.
The 10 regional managers, the last of which are being hired this week, will have both autonomy over and responsibility for the key elements of the campaign in their area: the political and field operation, relations with state and local media, and fundraising.
Some will have just a couple of states, while others will have as many as six; the average will be about five. To spread the wealth, there will be at least one targeted and genuinely competitive state in each region.
They’ll have a daily phone call with McCain’s Arlington, Va., headquarters and answer directly to Davis. If Davis is absent, Ferry will ride herd. DuHaime will offer guidance from his role at the RNC.
The hope is to give these aides complete hiring and budget authority for their regions to make for a more responsive and agile campaign. As Davis told Hill aides last week, the goal is to have 80 percent of the structure in the field and 20 percent back at headquarters.
“You can get better service, better coordination and, most importantly, get decisions made much more quickly if it’s done in the states,” argues Frank Donatelli, deputy chairman of the RNC and the chief liaison between the committee and the McCain campaign.
“We have some confidence in it, because it’s kind of the way we got nominated,” adds Black. “Our people were out in the states. By definition, people in New Hampshire and South Carolina had a lot of authority.”
There has, however, been much private grumbling in the ranks of Republican operatives that such a decentralized plan, the campaign equivalent of federalism, will inevitably prove unrealistic and have to be scaled back.
First, says one prominent GOP strategist, Davis won’t be able to directly oversee regional aides with all the other responsibilities that come with running a campaign. And further, says this source, delegating so much decision-making authority to different individuals will lead to mixed results. “There are some things campaigns are going to do everywhere because they work and are fundamental to the campaign,” says the strategist.
“In every campaign, some people perform up to expectations, and some people don’t,” Black said by way of tamping down such criticism. “If some [regional campaign managers] don’t perform well, of course they’ll get more supervision.”
Other Republicans suggest McCain is overcompensating for his top-heavy early campaign last year, which went broke and forced him to the brink before his improbable comeback.
“The Mehlman campaign style of ’04 would never work for him, and the beginning of the campaign proved that,” noted another GOP operative with ties to Bushworld. “But I just don’t know if this is realistic — why experiment in such a large-scale way?”
McCain strategists insist their paradigm can work. And the sour national climate for the GOP, McCain’s limited money supply and his preference for an impromptu campaign style that he can take to all parts of the country mean there is no other option but to break the mold, says one aide.
“To run a normal, typical race like a normal, typical Republican, we would win 45 percent of the popular vote and 189 electoral votes,” this aide says. “You can’t just go to Columbus.”
Bwahahahaha! yeah, while the dems are still split. watch the bump in the dem nominee's numbers once they are down to one candidate.
But that's alright, I guess, with all the money McCain and the RNC have at their disposal, their combined-cash national classified-ads campaign will surely make the difference. If not, he can always go running back to Soros with his hand out.
WTF is the matter with you? He is funded by SOROS!
McCain 2008 -Bite the pillow.
His campaign is very unorthodox. Its the first time a Democrat has ever won the GOP nomination.
I think carter gave us Regan. Besides, with criminal loving, global warming believing Jaun, we are headed down the same road as the two communist, just one step behind them.
If I see I'm going over a cliff, I might as well run towards it to see if I can clear the rocks below and hit the water.
I believe its going to take a collapse like Russia had to convince people to seek out independence, not dependence. Placing your trust in the government always proves a disaster.
Jaun McCain will take us in the same direction as the other two democrats. When we hit the cold water, maybe we will learn to swim, not wait for someone to save us.
...drive a triangulated contrast among himself, the Democratic nominee and President Bush...
In other words, he's running as a conventional Democrat.
How many times have we heard this?
Even in Pa, Obama is outspending Hillary 7m to 2.7 million, and that is saying something about the money pouring in.
Anyone outspending a Clinton is kicking some serious azz in the fundraisers.
Clinton will flatten mccain like a day old pancake, and the dems will be back on board.
- Even Obama would endorse her were he to lose in Denver.
Yes, and yes.
Carter gave us Reagan and a new perspective about government economics and taxation, and an unashamed use of American force to further democracy, and that sir, is a bargain that I will take anytime over a McCain.
Carter continues to be an embarrassment to the Dem cause and he helps us quite a bit with his insane logic and near senile ramblings.
Obama will be an utter and absolute disaster for the country
So will McCain.
You really did see the boogieman, didn’t you? McCain doesn’t have to beat Hussein or the Clintons. He has to beat MSM, whoever the Demonominee is.
It would be great to show that $$$$$$ doesn’t buy an election.
McCain is smart enough to NOT take on Mrs. Clinton for his VP. His age opens up too many possibilities of taking advantage of his mortality.
McCain is NOT too old.
He is the best candidate the Republicans (I am not one of them) could come up with.
I respect him a lot.
I got a call from the RNC last night and did the same thing. I argued my points and the caller, who was polite, continued to beg, and you are right, they are begging. My son walked in while I was on the phone and heard me making my arguments. When the phone call ended he asked, “You enjoyed that didn’t you?” I can’t lie, I did.
McCain has my support for these reasons.
1. He’s going to fix this Global Warming thing. Its been going through hot and cold cycles for 10 billion years, and damn it, it’s about time someone fixed it.
2. Hes going to raise my taxes. I make way too much money for a Family of 5, and the Bush tax cut just made my life too easy. I like a little challenge in my life, like working a second job.
Oh, darlin' we believe it. And that's the problem: he's running as a Republican. Get it?
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