February 11, 2009 5:11 PM
- Text
Pure Horserace: War, Who Is It Good For?
(CBS)
Whenever there's a big story, there's usually a politician or two trying to get a little attention out of it all. But as the war in Iraq turns four today, there's at least one breed of candidate keeping a distance — the presidential kind. The media is chronicling this anniversary today but not many of the 2008 hopefuls are rushing to jump in front of the cameras — and for good reasons.
Candidates in both parties have balancing acts to pull off. For Republicans like Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney, the war threatens to overshadow every other issue for voters next year — and unless things dramatically improve in the public's eyes, little else may matter.
Republicans can't afford to directly criticize President Bush's decision to go to war because it remains popular among those crucial activists who will determine the party's nominee. All they can do is what they've done — criticize around the edges. McCain has had harsh words for the post-invasion planning on the part of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, for example.
Democrats have much more freedom to be critical of both the initial decision to go to war and the execution of it, and they have been. But they run the risk of being pushed too far in that direction. Core voters in their party are increasingly insistent on purity on Iraq. Not only do they want U.S. troops out — now — they want their candidates who supported it in any way to issue public apologies.
Thus far, Hillary Clinton has refused to go as far as the rest of the field and apologize for her vote authorizing the war. She has paid for that refusal with plenty of criticism within her party. Beyond the nomination, however, Democrats don't want to be seen as pure doves. Despite the unpopularity of this war, 9/11 still resonates and voters may reject a pure anti-war party.
No candidate for president can go long without discussing Iraq; that's just a reality of our politics. And for the handful of them serving in Congress, there will be plenty of opportunities to assert themselves on the issue. But for all these candidates, it's safest to let Iraq continue to be the president's problem for as long as they can.
Rage Against The Machine: Her husband is sometimes called "Big Dog" among Democrats, but if Hillary Clinton wants her own giant-sized nickname, she might have to settle for "Big Brother" — if a popular YouTube clip is any indication.
The clip, which artfully inserts Clinton into the role of Big Brother in Apple's landmark "1984" Super Bowl ad and shows a woman in a Barack Obama shirt hurling a hammer at Clinton's visage, has been making the rounds since early March. But it has blown up in recent days thanks to some page one coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle and high placement on The Drudge Report.
Obama's campaign has denied any involvement with the fake commercial. But assuming that's true, the ad's popularity again raises the question of how campaigns can control their message in the Internet age. In YouTube's case, maybe they'll end up taking a page out of Viacom's playbook — after all, that Obama logo seen in the ad is copyrighted.
Riddles Wrapped In Enigmas: There are two main schools of thought concerning the primary calendar as it appears to be shaping up. Iowa and New Hampshire will almost certainly retain their positions as the lead-off contests, with South Carolina and, Nevada perhaps squeezing in to grab some of the attention.
Then comes what is being called "Super-Duper Tuesday" — Feb. 5, a day that could see 20 or more states voting and possibly end the primary season. With so much at stake that day — delegate-rich states like California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and maybe even New York and Florida — what strategies should campaigns pursue?
Joe Trippi, a veteran Democratic strategist who managed Howard Dean's 2004 campaign, told CBSNews.com last week he believes those early contests will remain supremely important. Wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, Trippi argued, will give a candidate enough momentum to carry them through those big states. Even those who have resources will have no time to recover, the thinking goes.
The other school of thought cautions against a campaign focused solely on the early states. Some candidates may raise as much as $100 million by next January and, used wisely, that could buy a lot of organization, media attention and TV ads in some of the bigger Feb. 5 states. With that date probably coming just three weeks after New Hampshire, early efforts could establish a firewall of sorts in these larger states that even momentum can't breach.
In the end, most of this "strategery" is probably most useful as a time-killing device for political junkies. We may see a candidate like Rudy Giuliani effectively skip Iowa or another of the four early states but almost certainly campaign hard in the rest of them. The real calculations will probably be a little more simple — those with the resources will spread them as far and wide as they can, while those without will bank on a breakthrough in the first contests.
Lost In Translation: Republican candidates' efforts to reach out to Hispanic voters have met with mixed results, but for decades they have enjoyed success with one group: Cubans. That's why Republican Mitt Romney, to paraphrase famous Cuban Desi Arnaz, might have some 'splainin' to do.
Campaigning last week in South Florida, Romney denounced the regime of Fidel Castro and his brother Raul — hated figures among a Cuban population that has remained loyal to the GOP and its strong anti-communist stance. But the Miami Herald reports that the crowd didn't exactly shower Romney with applause when he ended his speech with the rallying cry "Patria o muerte, venceremos! "
The phrase, which means "Fatherland or death, we shall overcome!" in English, has been used by Fidel Castro to end his bombastic speeches for years. Its prospects for showing up in future Romney speeches are not nearly as bright.
By Vaughn Ververs
Candidates in both parties have balancing acts to pull off. For Republicans like Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney, the war threatens to overshadow every other issue for voters next year — and unless things dramatically improve in the public's eyes, little else may matter.
Republicans can't afford to directly criticize President Bush's decision to go to war because it remains popular among those crucial activists who will determine the party's nominee. All they can do is what they've done — criticize around the edges. McCain has had harsh words for the post-invasion planning on the part of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, for example.
Democrats have much more freedom to be critical of both the initial decision to go to war and the execution of it, and they have been. But they run the risk of being pushed too far in that direction. Core voters in their party are increasingly insistent on purity on Iraq. Not only do they want U.S. troops out — now — they want their candidates who supported it in any way to issue public apologies.
Thus far, Hillary Clinton has refused to go as far as the rest of the field and apologize for her vote authorizing the war. She has paid for that refusal with plenty of criticism within her party. Beyond the nomination, however, Democrats don't want to be seen as pure doves. Despite the unpopularity of this war, 9/11 still resonates and voters may reject a pure anti-war party.
No candidate for president can go long without discussing Iraq; that's just a reality of our politics. And for the handful of them serving in Congress, there will be plenty of opportunities to assert themselves on the issue. But for all these candidates, it's safest to let Iraq continue to be the president's problem for as long as they can.
Rage Against The Machine: Her husband is sometimes called "Big Dog" among Democrats, but if Hillary Clinton wants her own giant-sized nickname, she might have to settle for "Big Brother" — if a popular YouTube clip is any indication.
The clip, which artfully inserts Clinton into the role of Big Brother in Apple's landmark "1984" Super Bowl ad and shows a woman in a Barack Obama shirt hurling a hammer at Clinton's visage, has been making the rounds since early March. But it has blown up in recent days thanks to some page one coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle and high placement on The Drudge Report.
Obama's campaign has denied any involvement with the fake commercial. But assuming that's true, the ad's popularity again raises the question of how campaigns can control their message in the Internet age. In YouTube's case, maybe they'll end up taking a page out of Viacom's playbook — after all, that Obama logo seen in the ad is copyrighted.
Riddles Wrapped In Enigmas: There are two main schools of thought concerning the primary calendar as it appears to be shaping up. Iowa and New Hampshire will almost certainly retain their positions as the lead-off contests, with South Carolina and, Nevada perhaps squeezing in to grab some of the attention.
Then comes what is being called "Super-Duper Tuesday" — Feb. 5, a day that could see 20 or more states voting and possibly end the primary season. With so much at stake that day — delegate-rich states like California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and maybe even New York and Florida — what strategies should campaigns pursue?
Joe Trippi, a veteran Democratic strategist who managed Howard Dean's 2004 campaign, told CBSNews.com last week he believes those early contests will remain supremely important. Wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, Trippi argued, will give a candidate enough momentum to carry them through those big states. Even those who have resources will have no time to recover, the thinking goes.
The other school of thought cautions against a campaign focused solely on the early states. Some candidates may raise as much as $100 million by next January and, used wisely, that could buy a lot of organization, media attention and TV ads in some of the bigger Feb. 5 states. With that date probably coming just three weeks after New Hampshire, early efforts could establish a firewall of sorts in these larger states that even momentum can't breach.
In the end, most of this "strategery" is probably most useful as a time-killing device for political junkies. We may see a candidate like Rudy Giuliani effectively skip Iowa or another of the four early states but almost certainly campaign hard in the rest of them. The real calculations will probably be a little more simple — those with the resources will spread them as far and wide as they can, while those without will bank on a breakthrough in the first contests.
Lost In Translation: Republican candidates' efforts to reach out to Hispanic voters have met with mixed results, but for decades they have enjoyed success with one group: Cubans. That's why Republican Mitt Romney, to paraphrase famous Cuban Desi Arnaz, might have some 'splainin' to do.
Campaigning last week in South Florida, Romney denounced the regime of Fidel Castro and his brother Raul — hated figures among a Cuban population that has remained loyal to the GOP and its strong anti-communist stance. But the Miami Herald reports that the crowd didn't exactly shower Romney with applause when he ended his speech with the rallying cry "Patria o muerte, venceremos! "
The phrase, which means "Fatherland or death, we shall overcome!" in English, has been used by Fidel Castro to end his bombastic speeches for years. Its prospects for showing up in future Romney speeches are not nearly as bright.
By Vaughn Ververs
Popular Now in Politics
- CPAC: Will Sarah Palin spring a surprise?
- Timothy Dolan: Birth control tweak a "first step"
- Ann Coulter riles up the CPAC crowd
- CPAC: Santorum rips Romney, rouses conservatives
- Romney takes on hecklers at Maine town hall
- Sarah Palin revs up CPAC faithful
- Mitt Romney wins Maine GOP caucuses
- CPAC: Anti-Obama beats pro-Romney
- After uproar, Obama tweaks birth control rule
- Occupy protestors kicked out of CPAC
- Romney on Obama: I will "knock him on his heels"
- Santorum: Women could bring "emotions" to combat
- Mitt Romney wins CPAC straw poll
- Gov. Jindal prepping for national stage
- Gingrich: I'll undo Obama legacy on day one
- Santorum's big benefactor
- Santorum donor in the spotlight
Latest CBS News Headlines
on Facebook Most Discussed Stories
on CBS News
- Bryant hits game-winner, Lakers edge Raptors 94-92
- Boeing says it's frustrated with Dreamliner glitch
- Crown Princess departs after norovirus outbreak
- Southwest NH visual arts tour added to itineraries
on Facebook Most Discussed Stories
on CBS News
