LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla., June 6, 2008
McCain Sets Sights On Clinton Voters
Washington Post: GOP Candidate Has Started Wooing White Working-Class And Women Democrats
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McCain Courts Clinton's Core
John McCain is focusing efforts on recruiting Hillary Clinton supporters who agree that Barack Obama's lack of experience will do little for the presidency. Chip Reid reports.
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McCain Prepares For Combat
Sen. John McCain is gearing up for the general election, trying to underscore the differences between himself and Sen. Barack Obama. But can he dodge President Bush's shadow? Maggie Rodriguez reports.
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McCain Takes Obama Shots
"CBS News RAW": Speaking to supporters in Kenner, La., John McCain took shots at Barack Obama's lack of experience while maintaining distance between himself and the current president.
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John McCain's campaign has already started wooing the white working-class voters and women who made up the bedrock of Hillary Clinton's coalition. (AP)
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Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., pauses while speaking to the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors & Florida Press Association Convention being held at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Thursday, June 5, 2008. (AP)
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Photo Essay
John McCain
Some call him a hero, some a maverick. Will Americans call him Mr. President?
Republican Sen. John McCain envisions a November victory built in part around attracting a large number of the millions of voters who turned away from Sen. Barack Obama's promise of change during the historic Democratic primary campaign.
Buoyed by polls showing a quarter or more of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's supporters planning to back McCain, his advisers have already started wooing the white working-class voters and women who made up the bedrock of her coalition. They plan to echo and expand the former first lady's critiques of Obama: that he is out of touch with Middle America and too unseasoned to be president.
"There's a lot of Senator Clinton supporters who would support me because of their belief that Senator Obama does not have the experience or the knowledge or the judgment to address this nation's national security challenges," McCain told reporters Wednesday.
Nonetheless, to succeed, McCain will have to upend firm partisan voting patterns that have held for the past four presidential elections.
In those contests, only about 1 in 10 Democrats cast a ballot for the GOP candidate, according to network exit polls. In the 2006 midterm election, 93 percent of Democrats voted Democratic in their House districts. That party loyalty -- matched by Republicans' fidelity to their party's candidates -- came despite voters' occasional protestations that a nomination defeat would send them scampering.
On the issues, it is unclear how McCain would appeal to Clinton's female or working-class voters. McCain's record is not much like Clinton's, as the Republican repeatedly pointed out during his primary battles. He opposes government-run health care, supports continuing the war in Iraq, wants to extend President Bush's tax cuts and is a committed foe of abortion rights.
His position on the war, in particular, puts him at odds with Clinton on what is a top issue for many Democrats. For months, McCain mocked Clinton's desire to withdraw troops from Iraq.
Obama advisers think the expressions of support for McCain among Clinton voters is a general byproduct of a passionate and sometimes heated primary process that will quickly fade. "We're confident that when voters from all walks of life have a choice between a candidate who last year voted with George Bush 95 percent . . . they will choose change and elect Barack Obama president," said Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan.
McCain strategists predict their candidate will do a better job of siphoning away Democratic votes because of two factors: what they say is Obama's inability to connect to some key parts of the Democratic coalition, and McCain's reputation as a maverick.
Republicans plan to describe Obama as an elitist from the Hyde Park section of Chicago, where liberal professors mingle in an academic world that is alien to most working-class voters. They plan to make sure Clinton's voters do not forget about Obama's comments that working-class people are bitter and cling to their guns and religion as a way of dealing with the economic uncertainty they face.
"The cling-to part about religion and guns is where the McCain campaign is going to hammer home on," said Kevin Madden, a GOP analyst who was the spokesman for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's presidential bid.
In recent days, the Republican campaign has held focus groups in the Rust Belt and Appalachian states where Obama's messages of hope and change failed to translate into votes, including one session in Pittsburgh -- Obama lost in Pennsylvania to Clinton, and it will almost surely be a critical swing state in the fall. McCain advisers said they found a palpable unease with Obama among those groups.Poll Database
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The point, key Republican advisers said, is that Clinton's voters see more of themselves in McCain than they do in Obama. In recent weeks, McCain advisers have shared data with Republican activists backing up that contention, said one Republican strategist.
McCain's speech Tuesday night contained a direct appeal to Clinton's voters, calling her a "friend" and saying that her presidential campaign inspired his own daughters and "millions of women to believe there is no opportunity in this great country beyond their reach."
In addition, they say they will stress the areas where McCain's positions are different from Bush's. In his speech Tuesday, McCain went out of his way to highlight his belief in global warming, his opposition to Bush's energy bill and his criticisms of the conduct of the war.
"The American people didn't get to know me yesterday," he said. Speaking as much about Clinton's supporters as his own, he added: "They know I have a long record of bipartisan problem-solving. They've seen me put our country before any president -- before any party -- before any special interest -- before my own interest."
McCain advisers believe the polls back up their predictions.
Over the past three months, Washington Post-ABC News polls showed an average of 25 percent of those backing Clinton in the primaries "defecting" to McCain in a hypothetical match-up with Obama. A new poll from the Pew Research Center conducted just before the final Democratic primaries put the number at 28 percent.
Other data in the new Pew poll may add to the concern among some Democrats. In that survey, the percentage of Clinton supporters holding a positive view of Obama continues to slide: Forty-five percent of them view Obama favorably, down from 58 percent in December, before the voting started.
The Clinton voters most open to switching sides this time in Post-ABC national data are white women, white voters without college degrees, older voters, moderates and those prioritizing experience over change. This is the most fertile territory for McCain to repeat the feat of one of McCain's heroes, Ronald Reagan.
Twenty-six percent of Democrats crossed party lines to vote for Reagan in 1980 after a bruising fight for the Democratic nomination between President Jimmy Carter and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) -- a battle that lasted all the way to the convention.
But even that number was significantly lower than the threatened crossover from early that year. In a late March 1980 Gallup poll, 47 percent of Democrats who wanted Kennedy to be the party's nominee said they would vote for Reagan if Carter were to get the nod; that is nearly twice the proportion who ended up doing so.
McCain's challenge in converting disappointed Clinton supporters into GOP voters this year hinges on his ability to ovrcome policy differences and improve his image with those voters. In the Pew poll, most of those who hold favorable views of Clinton view Obama positively and McCain negatively. And it is the anti-McCain view that may ultimately prove a stronger motivator.
Nearly 6 in 10 of those backing Clinton over Obama in the primary said they would support Obama in the fall, with about half of those voters saying they are motivated to do so primarily to vote "against McCain" rather than "for Obama."
Cohen reported from Washington. Polling analyst Jennifer Agiesta in Washington contributed to this report.
By Michael D. Shear and Jon Cohen
© 2006-2008 The Washington Post Company


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See all 500 CommentsAll hunters please wear and display your florescent party colors to prevent election mishaps.
Flashback to an old Nam battle strategy trick.
Win hearts and minds of enemy sympathizers with psychological warfare, and the votes will follow.
I love the smell of political victory in a November morning.
A SUCCESSFUL POLITICAL WOMAN WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND SHE''''S LABELED A PSYCHO, BACKSTABBING B***CH by these bloated old bigots feeding their ego''''s that they know what''''s best for this country!
And look what a mell of hess we''''re in right now because of some bloated ego, manifest destiny spewing back room dealing arrogant smart a/s/s inexperienced CRACKHEAD just like Obama!
And you roboturkeys and the DNC expect me to vote for this inexperienced overbloated goofball just like BUSH because they made back room deals to get him nominated, like I OWE them my vote?
Whatta laugh! Too bad you can''''t control where I put my vote in the general election, after all this is the United States of America God bless it, NOT God D/amn it! Screw you!
I think I speak for most Obama supporters when I say that I don''t give a rat''s *** who you vote for.
I''m sure that you don''t care that I will not be voting for a stubborn and senile old man who wants to continue down the road to ruin because he no longer has the gonads to stand up to the extremists in his Party.
The Independents will Not vote for McCain.
So as You all can SEE, McCain has his Hands Full.
Feminist will NOT VOTE for McCain, Pro-Choice Women, Roe Vs. Wade, will Kill McCain.
The large Gay Community, will NOT VOTE for McCain.
Afro Americans will NOT VOTE for McCain.
Game OVER for McCain.
The Independents will Not vote for McCain.
So as You all can SEE, McCain has his Hands Full.
Feminist will NOT VOTE for McCain, Pro-Choice Women, Roe Vs. Wade, will Kill McCain.
The large Gay Community, will NOT VOTE for McCain.
Afro Americans will NOT VOTE for McCain.
Game OVER for McCain.
The labels you''re using have no meaning. There''s nothing moderate about wanting to bomb Iran or retain the Bush tax cuts while running the federal budget into the ground.
Besides, liberal is not half as dirty a word as conservative in the current environment where conservatives have run the country into the ditch just like they did in the late 1920s and early 30s.
Once again it will take a "liberal'' Democrat to pull the car out of the ditch.
Putting McCain on the defensive on health care, the economy, the war, and many more issues.
Just when McCain thought he had a chance, Hillary will shine the spotlight on all of McCain''s flawed Bush policies.
Hillary remembers all too well how McCain and the Republicans treated her family when they were in the white house. Hillary is in position to payback the Republicans for all the sleepless nights they caused her family.
Hmm.. Let''s see we''re in a QUAGMIRE of a so called "war" in at LEAST 2 countries so since we''re "experienced" LET''S GO FOR MORE according to McSame.
The spooks have been given FREE ACCESS and are "experienced" with SPYING on the AMERICAN PEOPLE so LET''S GO FOR MORE SPYING - putting cameras in the little girl''s bathrooms of PUBLIC SCHOOLS and installing them in every BEDROOM in Middle America.
Lobbyists are "experienced" in running John McCain''s campaign so LETS take THAT LOBBYIST RUNS IT "EXPERIENCE" into the Whitehouse.
Heck, George was "experienced" with cozying up to the BIN LADEN FAMILY and look HOW GREAT that turned out for the TOP ONE PERCENT of this nation!
Too bad the REST OF US are going UNDER because of all that COZY RICH MAN''S CLUB "EXPERIENCE".
A SUCCESSFUL POLITICAL WOMAN WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND SHE''''S LABELED A PSYCHO, BACKSTABBING B***CH by these bloated old bigots feeding their ego''''s that they know what''''s best for this country!
And look what a mell of hess we''''re in right now because of some bloated ego, manifest destiny spewing back room dealing arrogant smart a/s/s inexperienced CRACKHEAD just like Obama!
And you roboturkeys and the DNC expect me to vote for this inexperienced overbloated goofball just like BUSH because they made back room deals to get him nominated, like I OWE them my vote?
Whatta laugh! Too bad you can''''t control where I put my vote in the general election, after all this is the United States of America God bless it, NOT God D/amn it! Screw you!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/opinion/06tyson.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin
A SUCCESSFUL POLITICAL WOMAN WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND SHE''''S LABELED A PSYCHO, BACKSTABBING B***CH by these bloated old bigots feeding their ego''''s that they know what''''s best for this country!
And look what a mell of hess we''''re in right now because of some bloated ego, manifest destiny spewing back room dealing arrogant smart a/s/s inexperienced CRACKHEAD just like Obama!
And you roboturkeys and the DNC expect me to vote for this inexperienced overbloated goofball just like BUSH because they made back room deals to get him nominated, like I OWE them my vote?
Whatta laugh! Too bad you can''''t control where I put my vote in the general election, after all this is the United States of America God bless it, NOT God D/amn it! Screw you!
Don''t let the door hit you in the as*s on the way out rowdy.
You can''t find one word about it at CBS. It''s sad they decided to ignore the fact.
God bless the soldiers who fought and died in the largest land invasion in human history. Their efforts and sacrifice helped keep our first amendment in place.
Barack was right, McCain has lost his bearings.
-McCain says he supported Katrina victims when he actually voted against Katrina funding twice... CBSnews.com silent.
-McCain courted the endorsements of EXTREMELY controversial pastors Hagee and Parley... CBSnews.com was silent until McCain FINALLY rejected the endorsements, and immediately ceased coverage of Hagee and Parsley, all while continuing coverage of Rev. Wright long after Obama had rejected his support.
-McCain can%u2019t tell the difference between Sunnis and Shias... CBSnews.com is silent.
-McCain%u2019s top economic advisor, Phil Graham, is a lobbyist for the UBS bank that was the primary bank involved in the mortgage crisis, and while a Senator, instigated much of the deregulation of the mortgage industry that led to the scandals and crisis... CBSnews.com is silent.
-McCain%u2019s own GOP colleagues talk about McCain%u2019s rage disorder and outbursts with threats... CBSnews.com is silent.
WHY IS McCAIN GETTING A FREE PASS?!?!?!?
------------------------The man is well connected! If he can weasel his way out of vietcon prisom unharmed he can get out just about anything. Remeber his daddy and grand-daddy are both Navy admirals.
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Posted by SgtRDS-E4 at 11:56 AM : Jun 06, 200
This twit right here thinks that repeating this BS over and over is going to make it so, however, internet sites are organizing as we speak and thousands are signing up! You people thinking that anything about this was fair when Obama totally blocked the votes of two states in his back room dealings is going to work, is absurd!
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Posted by ccfsdca at 12:27 PM : Jun 06, 2008
Websites organizing disenfranchised democratic votes to vote for McCain.
If they can''t revise their plans to count votes instead of some complex ying yang crapdoodle delegate and superdelegate policy for choosing a candidate just isn''t going to cut it anymore.
And we''re going to do it by a show of hands votes in OPPOSITION TO THE DNC!
AMAZING, and that''s one way for him to lose the support of Independents and Moderates he needs to win in November!
Again, AMAZING.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/opinion/06tyson.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin
It analyzes current polls to show that Clinton would beat McCain, but McCain would beat Obama in the GE.
Yup, anarchists, "GD America", shady real estate deals, bigots and racists - these are a few of his favorite things.
Yup, anarchists, "GD America", shady real estate deals, bigots and racists - these are a few of his favorite things.
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Posted by hoseobama at 12:41 PM : Jun 06, 2008
+ report abuse
Folks you have to love these bootlickers! ROFLMAO They aren''t intelligent enough to come up with real honest points so they cut an paste the same tired old garbage from sites like the American Nazi Party and the Klan.. I saw this one on the Nazi Party site the other night. But hey, we''ve endured them for over 200 years now, so what can you do!! Sieg Heil Bush
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Posted by SgtRDS-E4 at 12:39 PM : Jun 06, 2008
So is Obama, so what''s the deal? Obama callling for lobbyists to get out of Washington when he has 47 of them on his campaign team is kind of absurd!
If Obama wants to disagree with McCain, he should pick another fight, because this one just doesn''t wash!
Obama''s lobbyists are all oil and energy and banking people, and so is his bundling and PAC money! Without them throwing money at him right and left, Obama couldn''t have bought one ad!
Let''s be very clear...
I am not simply a Democrat, I am a Hillary Democrat.
Take that while you are basking in your 2nd coming Obama.
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Posted by peanutcrisp at 12:31 PM : Jun 06, 2008
+ report abuse
Yeah yeah! YOU crackers just do your best!! ROFLMAO This tired old man is your savior huh??? ROFLMAO THERE''s a VERY big wave headed right at you freaks... guess you can''t see it with those blinders on huh??? Sieg Heil Bush
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Posted by libra127 at 12:38 PM : Jun 06, 2008
+ report abuse
Now Sparky I watched the BOTH of them speak the other night. I listened as they laid out their plan for this nation. NO amount of spin is going to change this thing and it ain''t good for the fascist... not good at all. McSame isn''t going to change "Trickle Down", McSame isn''t going to do one *** thing about those UNFAIR Trade Agreements and McSame isn''t going to do one thing about Health Care.. it''s just a reality. IF PEOPLE want to vote AGAINST their interest I guess they will but reality is that the SAME problems will be with us 4 years from now.. just much worse. SIEG HEIL BUSH
NOT!
I''m amending my previous statement to:
obama - another "also ran" insignificant from the Chicago political machine. Can''t wait until the rezko hits the fan. The far left will be without a hope again.
Yup, anarchists, "GD America", shady real estate deals, bigots and racists - these are a few of his favorite things.
They just won''t be able to bring themselves to vote for more of them same and even much worse then the past 8 years. They my not want to vote for Barack, but they WILL vote against a third Bush term with McCain.
Despite the Media Hosts avoid talking about it, he Lost the popular Votes. And he has been losing since the Media pronounced him as "Presumptive Nominee" in March.
So if he is Smart enough, he will invite Hillary to run as a "2-for-1" Campaign.
Then, Democrat Party will win in a Landslide.
If not, say Hi to President McCain.
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