McCain's Strategy For Beating Obama

Senator's Plan Depends On Belief That Country Leans More To The Right Than To The Left

(AP)  Republican John McCain's game plan for beating Democrat Barack Obama rests on one huge assumption: Despite an unpopular war, an uncertain economy and the GOP's beleaguered status, the country still leans more to the right than to the left.

“There are going to be stark choices between a liberal Democrat and a conservative Republican,” McCain says at nearly every turn as he seeks to portray Obama as out of step with the nation. The more the GOP nominee-in-waiting can frame the debate along those lines, and capture a larger chunk of the electorate's center, the better his chance to eke out a victory in an extraordinarily challenging political environment.

Of course, a slew of other factors will come into play, including experience, character and outside events.

And, although Republicans shy away from publicly discussing it, race could have an enormous role. Public attitudes about issues like taxes and health care have been tested for years, but no one knows whether the nation will elect a black man, Obama, as president.

Age is another unknown. McCain will be 72 in August and would be the country's oldest elected president; Obama is more than two decades younger.

Seeking an early edge, McCain has spent the past few weeks laying out arguments against Obama, who is on the verge of clinching the Democratic nomination over Hillary Rodham Clinton. McCain has claimed that Obama lacks experience, raised questions about his judgment and suggested that the Democrat offers change that could imperil the country.

At the same time, the Vietnam prisoner of war and four-term senator has started trying to make the case that he alone has the qualifications to be a wartime commander in chief, in effect using his experience to counter concerns about his age.

Six months out, polling shows McCain competitive against Obama, and that heartens McCain's advisers, who recognize the difficult landscape for a Republican after President Bush's eight-year tenure.

In a sign of the troublesome times, the GOP has lost three special elections to fill vacant Republican seats this year.

The backdrop to those defeats: Bush's popularity is low, and a vast majority the public doesn't like the direction the country is heading. It's on the brink of a recession - if not already in one - and it's in the sixth year of a costly Iraq war that most people no longer support but that McCain does. Fundraising figures and primary turnout numbers also indicate that the GOP base isn't nearly as revved up as its counterpart.

Conversely, Democrats have a public hunger for change on their side. They also are on the cusp of nominating a fresh-faced candidate who has raised more than $200 million in more than a year, can pull in 35,000-strong crowds, and who long has opposed the Iraq war. The Democratic Party also has registered untold millions of new voters in key states.

Despite all that, Republicans say that if anyone gives them an opportunity to overcome the hurdles, it's McCain. They argue that he's not a typical GOP candidate and claim he has a necessary broad appeal for the times. They say his reputation for bucking the GOP on salient issues like climate change allows him to reach beyond the traditional Republican base when the party's “brand” is broken to attract independents and moderate Democrats.

“Both candidates will represent change. The question will be the right type of change versus the wrong kind of change,” said Steve Schmidt, a senior strategist for McCain. “Senator Obama's inexperience, his lack of judgment, his naïveté, his lack of accomplishment will all be part of the debate.”

So will ideology.

“There is an overwhelming difference between the right-of-center John McCain and the most liberal member of the Senate, Barack Obama,” said Frank Donatelli, the Republican National Committee's deputy chairman. “The contrast is great on the issues.”

Indeed, the GOP already is portraying the Democrat - who honed his political skills in Chicago after attending Harvard University - as a big-government advocate who wants to raise capital-gains taxes and recklessly pull U.S. troops out of Iraq and is willing to meet with leaders of U.S. enemy nations.

“By all yardsticks, this man is a legitimate leftist candidate,” said Ron Kaufman, a veteran GOP strategist. “The good news is you don't have to paint him as that. You just need a mirror.”

Dismissing the criticism, Obama spokesman Bill Burton said: “This is less about left and right. It's about which candidate is going to take this country in a new direction.”

Democrats claim McCain is not that candidate, and they argue that he offers nothing more than a continuation of eight years of Bush's “failed” policies on Iraq and the economy.

McCain, in response, points to his record of challenging the party line on those and other issues.

Mindful that the unpopular Bush is a liability, McCain has started to distance himself from the president in speeches that encapsulate his own vision. Still, McCain is signaling he will use Bush where necessary; the two, for example, are appearing at a joint fundraiser later this month.

McCain is taking a campaign approach unlike Bush's elections in 2000 and 2004, which emphasized turning out the party's base. Rather, McCain has started shifting to the electorate's center, a recognition of his ideological reach as well as the need to capture swing voters against an opponent who also attracts independents.

He hopes his crusade against climate change - an issue that appeals to people of all stripes - will help him build a winning coalition of voters.

To do so, McCain is targeting traditional swing voting groups, like independents and Catholics, as well as others where Obama has shown weakness in the primaries, among them conservative-leaning so-called Reagan Democrats, blue-collar whites, Jews and Hispanics.

Because of McCain's independent streak and Obama's vulnerabilities with key demographics, Republicans see opportunity in several states Democrats won in 2004, including electoral-rich bastions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

There and elsewhere, race is surely going to be a factor, even though the GOP says it doesn't want it to be.

Said Donatelli: “We're all Americans, too, even though we want to win, and it just would not be in anyone's interest for race to become a part of this campaign.” McCain himself acknowledged last month that benefiting from latent prejudice in the country “would bother me a great deal.”

That's not to say groups operating independently of McCain's campaign won't wade into the black-vs.-white area - or other areas.

Republicans, for instance, are giddy about Obama's recent rough patch that exposed hotspots.

They cite his comment that small-town people are bitter and, thus, cling to guns and religion, as well as the flap over whether he wears a flag lapel pin, and his relationships with former pastor Jeremiah Wright and a 1960s-era radical William Ayers.

“There are some gifts out there that the party's been given,” said John Truscott, a GOP strategist in Michigan. “The party has to be careful not to go too far, but these are issues that are fair game.”

Republicans can only hope the general public sees it that way.

[steeepe]

Experience counts for something, but good ideas are more important. McCain''s campaign is loaded with lobbyists, and McCain voted with Bush almost all the time. What''s so great about his "experience"? I''d rather have Obama with new ideas than McCain with the same old bulldung we''ve gotten from the Bush crowd.

[mudrose-2009]

McCain''''s Strategy For Beating Obama

1. Never leave his hotel room without putting his
pants on.
2. Remember what city and state he is in.
3. Never suggest people make a living selling on ebay.
4. Never bring up Shiites or Sunni''''s.
5. Never bring up Lobbyist.
6. Always bring extra Depends!
Posted by navpro

Obama''s strategy for beating McCain.
1. Never ever challenge him on any issue. He''ll call you a racist.
2. That''s it. If you debate the guy you''re a racist.

[obama8years]

Muslim Extremist will do anything including get a President in Office who will sympathize with them.

Obama Pastor Rev Wright Praises Hamas and writes about them in his Church Bullentin. Since Obama told us Wright is a Mentor for 20 years, I am afraid Obama is just telling us what he wants us to hear. But pay closely attention to Barack Huesain Obama acitons and associates.

The question is if we want a man in the White House who will regularly give his ear to the likes of a Reverend Wright, his and Sabeel%u2019s replacement theologies, and pro-terrorist propagandists like Ali Abunimah on a regular basis? In one sense, Obama could be considered the ISM%u2019s Manchurian candidate given his wide connections to ISM activists and campaign movements such as the Wheels of Justice Tour, Joseph Carr a.k.a. Joseph Smith, Hannah Mermelstein, Anna Baltzer and others.

[armydog2]

i am a white middle class working American woman and i voted for Obama in Pennsylvania. I cannt trust Hillary or McCain as far as I can see them. Time for new ideals and new ways to bring our country back to her glorious self.Out with the old and in with new and young ideas.

[jack3213]

Obama will lose to McCain because he has dangerous plans and has no experiance. He is a senator for all of two years- did not vote on many many things- and has been in hiding- why are people so naive and want such a dangerous leader? Wishful thinking on their part- that is what is most dangerous when you don''t know how much experiance is valued. Would you hire him to teach your children or someone much more experianced? Simple question. Simple answer

[Gary Kempf]

McCain''s Strategy For Beating Obama

1. Never leave his hotel room without putting his
pants on.
2. Remember what city and state he is in.
3. Never suggest people make a living selling on ebay.
4. Never bring up Shiites or Sunni''s.
5. Never bring up Lobbyist.
6. Always bring extra Depends!

[sgtrds-e4]

''McCain''s Strategy For Beating Obama''

Beg for mercy?

[ubrew12]

corey2444 said: "Democrats stance on energy:"

Here''s one Democrats stance on energy:
Oil bad, but currently necessary: drill for more, but work on getting rid of it.
Nuclear bad but our best short term (next 50 years) option: double it.
Coal bad: only a republican would love coal.
Natural gas bad but not as bad as oil or coal: definitely increase our resources of it.
Wind good: increase it, but enforce legislation like Europe that insists on only one type per location: more esthetic that way (Republican way: grow wind turbines like weeds, 200 different types in one location looking like garbage).

I notice you didn''t mention wave, hydro, salinity, solar. You must be a Republican and haven''t heard of those options yet.

[rowdytexan2]

Women vote for Hillary out of sexism.

The rest of America is going to vote for Obama using common sense.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by hungry1968 at 11:18 PM : May 19, 2008

Said like a true bigot!

[hungry1968]

Borrow one of Obama''''s race cards and throw it at him! And call all the people that vote for him ignorant people who can''''t see past their turbans and Korans!

You should''''ve just claimed you didn''''t have any lobbyists on your campaign team like Obama did!


Posted by RowdyTexan2 at 09:49 PM : May 19, 2008





Women vote for Hillary out of sexism.

The rest of America is going to vote for Obama using common sense.

[faulpelz-2009]

Conservative? McCain? No, sir, not in Houston, Texas. He''s more of a water boy for any cause that suits him. I think they call him a mealymouthed maverick. Method in the madness. And, say, I thought he was the same guy the RNC roasted when Bush was the party favorite. What happened? McCain got saved,too?

[rowdytexan2]

McCAIN ON THE ENVIRONMENT-- AT BEST A MEDIOCRE AND CONFUSED FLIP FLOPPER

Oh there''s a good one! Call McCain a flip flopper!

Obama stumped on Hanford nuke waste clean-up, %u201CUhhhhhhhhhh%u201D
By Michelle Malkin %u2022 May 19, 2008 07:43 PM If you put yourself out there as the presidential candidate most in touch with The People, if you put yourself out there as the champion of the environment, and if you put yourself out there as the candidate best able to represent the Pacific Northwest and bring about %u201Cchange,%u201D you should have a staff competent enough to brief you on the biggest policy issues consuming the electorate%u2019s energies there as you campaign for votes.

The Hanford nuclear waste clean-up has gone on for decades. It%u2019s been a cause celebre for environmentalists and the PNW congressional delegation. When I worked at the Seattle Times, I took a tour of the now-closed Fast Flux Test Facility at Hanford, which some cancer researchers said could have been used to produce life-saving medical isotopes. Every year brings new funding battles. Hanford is to the region as Yucca Mountain is to Nevada, and Obama was plenty opinionated about the latter issue.

Well, McCain was asked about Hanford last week while in Washington state and offered a concrete policy answer!

Freaking Obama had never HEARD of it! One of the most dangerous places in the United States!

[rowdytexan2]

Borrow one of Obama''s race cards and throw it at him! And call all the people that vote for him ignorant people who can''t see past their turbans and Korans!

You should''ve just claimed you didn''t have any lobbyists on your campaign team like Obama did!

[realpatriot1]

jack3213,

Here''s a fairy tale for you...Iraq will be stable in 2013, not sooner and not later.

I have a plan! I can''t do it alone, i need for you to vote for me, twice. Once I''m re-elcted and a lame duck i''ll pull us out.

[moneymcbush]

My friends, will someone change my diaper.
I p oo ped myself.

[jack3213]

My friends, the definition of stupidity is believing in fairy tales and wishing for change from an inexperianced and unqualified candidate. MCain will win in Nov. 2008. It is because of Clinton that this will happen. Those who support her now will not vote for Obama. This, my friends, is a fact.

[ofbyfor1]

My friends, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.

McCain=Bush.

Ergo: don''t be insane, say no to McCain!

[ofbyfor1]

''Mindful that the unpopular Bush is a liability, McCain has started to distance himself from the president in speeches that encapsulate his own vision. Still, McCain is signaling he will use Bush where necessary; the two, for example, are appearing at a joint fundraiser later this month.''

It''s too little, too late. Only a short time ago, McCain was fawning over Bush in the Rose Garden and he''s changed his original views to back Bush (flip-flopping) too many times over the past few years. And to appear at ANY fund-raiser with Bush is simply going to reinforce that he is more of McSame.

[veteran72]

In a sign of the troublesome times, the GOP has lost three special elections to fill vacant Republican seats this year.

The backdrop to those defeats: Bush''s popularity is low, and a vast majority the public doesn''t like the direction the country is heading. It''s on the brink of a recession - if not already in one - and it''s in the sixth year of a costly Iraq war that most people no longer support but that McCain does. Fundraising figures and primary turnout numbers also indicate that the GOP base isn''t nearly as revved up as its counterpart.

Pack it up, old man.....

[moneymcbush]

Step2. Fire More Lobbyists:
Mary Kate Johnson,Ned Johnson,Charles Kahn III,Mike Kennedy,William Kilberg,Steve Kuykendall,William Lesher,Jack LichtensteinGail MacKinnon,Peter Madigan,Mary Mann,Paul Martino,Mary McAuliffe,John McGovern,Mike McKay,Timothy McKone,Alison McSlarrow,Kyle McSlarrow,Michael Meece,David Metzner,Susan Molinari,John Munger,Ken Nahigian,Susan Nelson,Jack Oliver,Steve Perry,Nancy Mitchell Pfotenhauer,Steve Phillips,Elise Pickering,James Pitts,Timothy Powers,Anthony Principi,Michael Racy,Sloan Rappoport,James Rill,Steve Roman,Matt Salmon,Joseph Samora,Randy Scheunemann,Katie Stahl,Milly Stanges,Aquiles Suarez,Fife Symington,Jeri Thompson,Dirk Van Dongen,David Vennett,Raymond Wagner,Jeffrey Weiss,Richard Wiley,Tony Williams,James Woolsey,Joseph Wright,Fred Zeidman

McCainSource.com