Strategist Says Party Label Hurts McCain

Political Players: Former Newt Gingrich Adviser Frank Luntz Says GOP Candidate Needs To Stress His Independence

(CBS)  Political Players is a weekly conversation with the leaders, consultants, and activists who shape American politics. This week, as the McCain and Obama campaigns prepare for a general election between their candidates, CBS News' Brian Goldsmith talked with former Newt Gingrich adviser Frank Luntz about Republican challenges, Democratic opportunities, and--his particular speciality--the words that work to attrack voters.

CBSNews.com: The president has a record high disapproval rating. 80 percent of the country believes we're on the wrong track. How much does John McCain have to distance himself from the Bush administration--and how can he do that?

Frank Luntz: McCain's mission is to win despite being a Republican, not because of it. And that requires him to be his own man. Now, he's well suited to that because of a past record of opposing the administration--and opposing a majority of Republicans--on issues such as campaign finance reform, the tobacco bill, the president’s tax cuts, and even the war in Iraq. But it is a tremendous challenge, and he starts at a huge disadvantage.

CBSNews.com: But has he done enough, in launching his general election campaign, to establish himself as an independent persona?

Frank Luntz: Has he done enough? As of now, yes. But he'll need to keep doing it every day, every week, every month. His independence is the only hope he has of winning the presidency. As it turns out, he's the only Republican that could potentially beat the Democratic nominee. But it will be a struggle every single day.

CBSNews.com: Does he have to draw more substantive distinctions with the policies of the Bush White House?

Frank Luntz: I don't think so. I think he has to be himself. The guy is a maverick. He talks like a maverick. He votes like a maverick. It's not just about issues. It's also about character traits and attributes. And I think the media sometimes forgets that people don't just vote based on who they agree with. They also vote based on who they trust, who they have confidence in, and who they believe says what they mean and means what they say.

CBSNews.com: Speaking of saying what you mean, your book, Words That Work--and much of your career--has been about getting people to use the right language to convey the right messages to the right audience. What are the words that you think really define this election year? Obviously we've heard a lot about change. We've heard about accountability. What do you think the American people are looking for in a presidential candidate in 2008?

Frank Luntz: You named a couple of them right there. The value that they want most in government is accountability. And that's because they think the politicians do everything they can to escape it. What they want most in a presidential candidate is someone who says what he means and means what he says. Because they're tired of being lied to.

What they want most in the economy is security because the level of economic anxiety is at all-time highs, modern highs. And what they're looking for overall--change is such a simple word. It's not change. They're really looking for a fresh start. And either candidate could represent what the public is looking for.

CBSNews.com: Obama seems on track to be the Democratic nominee. What went wrong for Hillary Clinton?

Frank Luntz: Everything went wrong for Hillary Clinton. I've never seen a campaign and a candidate so misjudge an electorate, particularly when they spent millions of dollars listening to them. It's as though they were polling in Slovenia rather than New Hampshire. Hillary's campaign is guilty of electoral malpractice. She should've been the nominee. In fact, she should've been the next president.

It's not just the campaign's fault. It is also her fault. At critical moments she made fatal mistakes.

CBSNews.com: Looking back, what were the most fatal mistakes? What were the themes that she should have emphasized that she chose not to?

Frank Luntz: She could have been the change people believe in. She could have been the candidate to offer hope and opportunity. And I studied this. In every debate, in every ad, Barack Obama spoke in positive terminology about 75 percent of the time and used negative references about 15 percent of the time. She spoke positively only about 35 percent of the time, and she used negative references 50 percent of the time.

She didn't realize just how negative her campaign sounded. Every time she attacked corporate America, every time she attacked pharmaceutical companies, oil companies. Every time she talked about the right wing, she was losing young voters who've had enough of that divisiveness and had enough of that negativity. She turned off the very people who would've voted for her because she's filled with rage.

CBSNews.com: And yet, Senator Obama has a pretty formidable challenge in front of him because he's had trouble--not just with white working class voters--but also with Latino voters, Jewish voters, older voters, white female voters, particularly in the key states. So, what does he have to do as he transitions to a general election?

Frank Luntz: Well, he's in a stronger position than McCain right now because the Democratic Party is in a stronger position than the Republicans. In fact, John McCain will soon realize that it is smart for him to run against Congress, which includes members of his own party.

In Obama's case it's a state calculation as well as a message calculation. I think he has to win Colorado and Iowa to balance a loss in New Hampshire. And then he's got to win either Ohio or Missouri to get over 270. He's got to win one of those central old economy states in which he didn't do particularly well in the primaries.

CBSNews.com: And in terms of his message, what can he do to attract some of the voters, many of them Democrats, who thus far have been resistant to him?

Frank Luntz: He has to empower people. And he empowers people the way that he uses his message now. You need to take it one step further. We've talked about change, and in fact, he's got an ad. His Super Bowl ad is the best example of this. He has a line in there, "We can change the planet." I don't know of any candidate ever in American politics who offered his supporters that level of empowerment, that level of influence.

He then needs to make that a reality. He needs to say, "We have come so far. Don't turn back now. If you accept the way things are, vote for the status quo. But if you believe and want to do better, you just have one more activity." It's reminiscent of the Radio Free Europe ads of the 1960s and 1970s, where they used to talk about how in foreign countries you had to risk your life to make a difference. In America, you just have to vote.

CBSNews.com: And that's enough? “The one additional step that voters have to take,” that's enough for these Hispanics and Jews and older voters to overcome their doubts?

Frank Luntz: The dumbest thing for Barack Obama is to become a politician with five months to go. If he starts to pander to the traditional Democratic constituencies the way Al Gore did in 2000 and 2004, he'll destroy his own novelty. He'll destroy his own credibility. Obama earned the nomination because he's proven himself different than any Democrat who has come before him. Now is not the time to change.

Also don’t forgot that he's got the best staff, political staff, in modern campaign history. Something good has happened. Don't change it now.

[stn_sage]

Two years of Democrapic control of Congress has done nothing but divide and destroy our country.

posted by far_point200 at 12:55 PM : May 30, 2008
-------------
My response: Dems have had a slight majority control of Congress for 1 1/2 years, NOT 2! And 14 years of
GOP partianship is what has divided & destroyed the U.S.! Now, correcting your misinformation:

7. Companies have been sending jobs overseas to reduce wages paid to Americans all thru the Bush years. Availability of workers is NOT the problem.

8. High costs in med & insurance premiums are due partly to lack of regulation & coherent policy courtesy of Bush & Co..

far_point200, what the country DOESN''T need is partian people like you, who want to blame the other side for the problems THEIR GOP reps CAUSED!

You''re despicable like your parties'' misleaders!

part 2

[stn_sage]

Two years of Democrapic control of Congress has done nothing but divide and destroy our country.

posted by far_point200 at 12:55 PM : May 30, 2008
-------------
My response: Dems have had a slight majority control of Congress for 1 1/2 years, NOT 2! And 14 years of
GOP partianship is what has divided & destroyed the U.S.! Now, correcting your misinformation:

1. Funds ARE there to fight the war & terrorism. Lack of planning on both issues by Bush is the problem!

2. Food prices are the result of bad weather that have reduced grain crops, profit gouging, and to a much lesser degree ethanol program. Why hasn''t Bush enacted price controls? He could, he wont do his job!

3. Illegal immigration is the failure of the Rep controlled 110th Congress along with Bush who REDUCED border patrol staffs to usher in ''cheap labor''!

4. Dich Cheney allowed the OIL COMPANIES to write the energy policy---the Rep Congress steam-rolled it into law!

5. GOP/Bush policies CAUSED the housing/real estate meltdown, sonny! They try to stop the Dems fm fixing it!

6. Devaluation because Bush is writing blank checks to fund the war, while cutting taxes on wealthy, while Chinese assume debt! GOP irresponsibility!

part 1

[ouronlyhope]

Posted by far_point200

Two years of Democrapic control of Congress - is NOT ENOUGH TIME TO DO ANYTHING! ALSO...the SENATE majority has been by ONE delegate...with LIEBERMAN voting WITH the REPS 9 times out of ten...to ensure NOTHING GETS PASSED!

1) Lack of military funding to successfully fight terrorism - THIS IS A COMPLETE LIE! THE PROBLEM is that the DEMS don''t WANT to fund the IRAQ WAR...but ALSO don''t want to leave our Troops without funds...so they HAVE been passing the bills to continue funding the WAR in IRAQ & TERRORISM. Unfortunately..only the President can bring our troops home...and a REP President WON''T!


2) Inflationary food prices due to ethanol green subsidies and policies. - The price of FOOD in increasing because of the PRICE in GASOLINE! When it costs more to ship food...food prices go up. (DUH)

3) Illegal immigration at all time highs and out of control - BECAUSE the Govt is scrapping the brand-new $20 million Boeing Co. system because it doesn''t work sufficiently. A contract agreement that was made BEFORE the Dems got a ''Barely Majority'' in Congress.

4) Lack of fundamentally sound energy policies (see ethanol fiasco) causing the quardrupaling of oil prices - as I said...Congress has been unable to pass anything because of the deadlock...BUT THE MOST DIRECT RESULT OF THE IRAQ WAR is the PRICE INCREASE for oil...YEP! ALL THE FAULT OF OUR CURRENT REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT!

[ouronlyhope]

CONTINUATION of %u2018Posted by far_point200%u2019

5) Nothing done to prevent the housing / real estate meltdown. - The republican majority over 6 years assisted with the deregulation of the Mortgage loan companies...the DIRECT RESULT of which is THIS year''s mortgage Crisis.

6) Devaluation of the dollar to historic lows - The combination of our oversees loans to finance the WAR and the mortgage crises caused this.

7) Lower educational standards causing companies to go overseas for engineering & scientific talent - tax incentives were given to these companies to HIRE LOWER INCOME WORKERS...but the BILL DID NOT STIPULATE that those workers be in the US...that''s why companies are moving oversees.

8) Run-a-way health costs and insurance premiums - which could be controlled by a universal health care system.

9) ....and on and on and on - so you see...ALL OF THESE PROBLEMS were caused by the Rep Pres & the Rep majority from 2001-2006. The current Dem majority is currently increasing...so as long as we keep putting dems in the congress & the White House...they can start helping us get out of this mess the REPUBLICANs got us into.

[sgtrds-e4]

John McCain is this election''s Bob Dole. No one really expects him to win because Bush has scr*ewed the American people over so badly, but they''re letting him run because it''s "his turn" to run, just like it was Dole''s. It''s the GOP''s version of a retirement gift. This time next year McCain will be back in AZ and on TV hawking Depends and Viagra.

[downsteamjim]

It is interesting that JFK''s policys were much further to the right than most of McCain''s and all of Hillary and Obama. In important areas such as illegal immagration, spending, campaign reform [anti free speech], McCain fits well with the Democrat party.

[far_point200]

Hmmmm.... I''d rather McCain be a known as a Republ-I-CAN than Dem-O-***!

Two years of Democrapic control of Congress has done nothing but divide and destroy our country.

1) Lack of military funding to successfully fight terrorism.
2) Inflationary food prices due to ethanol green subsidies and policies.
3) Illegal immigration at all time highs and out of control.
4) Lack of fundamentally sound energy policies (see ethanol fiasco) causing the quardrupaling of oil prices.
5) Nothing done to prevent the housing / real estate meltdown.
6) Devaluation of the dollar to historic lows.
7) Lower educational standards causing companies to go overseas for engineering & scientific talent.
8) Run-a-way health costs and insurance premiums.
9) ....and on and on and on

The U.S. doesn''t need any more Democrap!

[jack3213]

Dole assures McClellan that he won''''t read the book -- "because if all these awful things were happening, and perhaps some may have been, you should have spoken up publicly like a man, or quit your cushy, high profile job"

"That would have taken integrity and courage but then you would have had credibility and your complaints could have been aired objectively," Dole concludes. "You%u2019re a hot ticket now but don%u2019t you, deep down, feel like a total ingrate?"

BUT IT IS OK TO PUT A DEMOCRAT INTO OFFICE- ONE WITH WHOM IS NOT QUALIFIED AND ONE WITH WHOM IS NOT EXPERIANCED. INSANE.

[jimfinster]

"Strategist Says Party Label Hurts McCain"

LOL .... Understatement of the year!

[ouronlyhope]

In McCain%u2019s own words%u2026
LOOK FOR YOURSELF and decide if McCain is the Strait-Talker he claims to be:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6TP1FjUp7bw&feature=related

[ouronlyhope]

It''s not just the Brand...it''s that he has become McBush!

McCain 4 years ago:

Bush tax cuts-they are irresponsible & I can''t in good conscience vote for them. They help the richest 10% more than the middle-class

Military & Vets-strong support in all areas

Influence of the Affluent & Big business (lobbyists) in Washington politics-worked to Decrease it through a Bill passed by the Senate

Ethics in Politics%u2013Insisted that %u2018strait-talk%u2019 about issues & not attacking your opponent was the way to run a campaign


McSame%u2026I mean McCain Now:

Bush''s tax cuts-going to make them permanent (conscience gone?)

Military-rather than focus on Al-Qaeda (which is in Afganistan), he wants to keep us in Iraq (recent Pentagon reports say we are doing more harm than good there). This in spite of the fact that our troops are exhausted & overstretched with record suicide rates and decreased enrollments. He also stated that we need to start a conflict with Iran, even though we can''t sustain our current efforts. MORE conflict is an option right now.

Veterans-he may be a Vet but won''t support the new GI Bill as it makes ''getting out'' of the military ''too appealing''. (So stay in till you get killed?)

Influence in Washington-FEC is investigating him for illegal campaign contributions AND he has received the largest percentage of campaign funds from LOBBYISTS & BIG BUSINESSES.

Ethics in Politics%u2013%u2018strait-talk%u2019 is out & attacking Obama is a central tenet of his campaign