McCain Can Rebound, GOP Strategist Says

Political Players: Republican Consultant Alex Castellanos Says The Party Can't Ignore Economic Crisis

(CBS)  Political Players is a continuing conversation with the leaders, consultants and activists who shape American politics. This week, CBS News’ Brian Goldsmith talked with Republican political strategist Alex Castellanos about his party’s outlook in November.

CBSNews.com: We see tracking polls that show this race anywhere from a one point Obama lead to a 12 point Obama lead. What's your view of where the campaign stands today?

Alex Castellanos: I think this campaign was tightening up until a couple of weeks ago. And I think at that point it kind of knocked the Republican brand back quite a bit. You can see that it's not only affected the McCain campaign, but you're seeing Senate races, congressional races all around the country where Republicans have dropped four or five points. So my guess today is that McCain is probably four or five points behind.

CBSNews.com: Do you get the sense that there may be some tightening over the last couple of days? Or do you think that's just a natural fluctuation?

Alex Castellanos: I think that’s a little bit of a fluctuation. I think a lot of America voted last week. And I don't mean that physically, but a lot of people I think reached a decision point last week. We've seen some hardening of the vote. You look at the Republican vote and nearly 90 percent say that they're for McCain and not moving, and likewise for the Democratic vote.

I think there's a sense now, for those voters who have decided to go for Obama, the election is over. And I think we're actually going to go through a little period of buyer's remorse where people take one more look at Obama and ask, is this what I really want to do?

So I would expect it to tighten again a little bit. But Obama has a lead. And I think McCain needs a comeback strategy.

CBSNews.com: Many Republicans, as you know, are alarmed that this campaign is now being played out almost entirely on President Bush's turf from 2000 and 2004. The Kerry and Gore states seem mostly locked for Obama. So what do you think a McCain comeback strategy should look like?

Alex Castellanos: I think it's got several steps. The first thing is you start the race at the line, not the finish line. Tell voters where you are. Hey look, we've had an economic crisis. And it's happened on the Republicans' watch. And that's affected everyone with an R next to their name, certainly affected this campaign. And we're in a tough spot.

Step two is embrace the challenge and say, look we've got a tough economic situation. And if you'll think in the life of our country and your own life, these are the moments that have made us who we are. These are the moments that have brought out our best. And, you know, I know what it's like being tested. And so does this country. And this will bring out our best. And here's where we go from there.

And then step three is leading, offering a long-term solution. I think Americans want somebody to lift their eyes from their shoes, look over the horizon a little bit, and say, "Look, there's a new global economy out there, a new global economic frontier, tremendously competitive and frightening but also tremendously promising."

And America can succeed there. We can compete and win. That's the answer, that's going to lift us. And that's what I had hoped McCain would do [at the debate] and I think he has yet to do.

CBSNews.com: We heard earlier this week some pretty surprising on-the-record quotes from McCain operatives essentially saying, if we're talking about the economic crisis, we lose. We need to shift the debate to Barack Obama's vulnerabilities. Do you think that’s a mistake?

Alex Castellanos: Well, I think there's very little in politics that's secret. And one of the least secret things is strategy because you communicate it by what you do. But nevertheless, I don't think you are quite that obvious with it.

The problem is, this is shoveling back the tide. There's a limit to the ability of a political campaign to make people think, when the house is burning down, that a cold meal is the problem. When a wave is this big, you either ride the wave or you get swamped by the wave.

CBSNews.com: So--to be clear about the metaphor--it's not even possible, in your view, to change the subject from the economy.

Alex Castellanos: I think, on occasion, politics reflects real life. Who knew? And this is one of those moments. I think it's incumbent on Republicans not to display a lack of confidence in our ability to deal with the real challenges that confront the country and especially economic challenges.

I mean, McCain's actually got a great story to tell there. Raise taxes now, you can pull the economy over a precipice. Put a Democratic Congress and a Democratic President in there to spend, to regulate and tax, you know, you're gonna have a car with two accelerators and no brake pedal when the country is on the edge of an economic crisis.

CBSNews.com: Are you surprised McCain hasn't made the divided government argument?

Alex Castellanos: Well, I think as we get closer to the finish line, I would expect that that'll become a bigger concern.

CBSNews.com: A lot of the commentary about the debate this week shared the view that McCain lost by not decisively winning, that he had to shake things up and he didn’t. Do you agree with that?

Alex Castellanos: I think when the other team is ahead and nothing changes, that's probably a good thing for the team that's ahead. The third quarter's now over. We're going into the fourth quarter. And I think Obama has an advantage. So, yeah, I think the next debate it's going to be important to gain some ground.

CBSNews.com: Can you explain what you think the strategy of the McCain campaign is to win this election?

Alex Castellanos: Well, I think the McCain strategy has been, we have to disqualify Obama to win. And that's true. They do.

He is the alternative to a Republican brand that has taken a beaten lately. But saying that that's something you have to do does not mean that's the only thing you have to do.

And when the Obama people certainly have more than enough resources and political talent to disqualify McCain, you're back to parity in a year where the Democratic brand has an advantage. The generic ballot tilts their way.

So why vote for John McCain? And I think they had that message for a couple of weeks. And the McCain/Palin brand was, we're outsider populists. We're going to change Washington and strengthen the country. And all of a sudden, it wasn't that Washington's on the wrong track, it's that the economy's on the wrong track. And their brand -- that kind of campaign -- got shoved to the sidelines.

CBSNews.com: Now obviously, they've gotten no shortage of suggestions for how to improve their strategy. Newt Gingrich wrote that John McCain is facing the crisis of his career, that he risks losing unless he breaks more dramatically from he called Bush/Paulson economics. Do you think that's a wise move?

Alex Castellanos: I don't think it's as important that he break from Bush/Paulson as it is that he lay out his own economic vision to take the country forward. And, by design, I think that would offer sufficient contrast with the Bush administration which hasn't really focused on that.

CBSNews.com: I know that there's disagreement even within McCain's team about this, but do you think that John McCain should use Jeremiah Wright in the campaign?

Alex Castellanos: Well, I'll tell you, that was kind of litigated in front of the entire nation on every news media outlet for weeks. America knows about that. When you paint the wall the same color, America doesn't really notice a big change.

CBSNews.com: Now, you famously worked for Jesse Helms when he ran against Harvey Gantt, an African-American Democrat, in 1990. How do you think McCain deals with Obama's race? Does he ignore it? Does he have to attack him more carefully as a result of it? How does it change what the McCain campaign has to think about?

Alex Castellanos: If they're thinking about that, then they're not thinking about what they need to be to win. In politics, I have a thing called the law of the fireman. When your house is on fire, you don't care whether your fireman is male or female, tall, short, one faith or color, or what his last name is. You want him to put the fire out. And right now, I think, looking at the small insignificant divisions that aren't central to putting out the fire, and moving the country forward, trivialize the campaign.

CBSNews.com: Do you think Sarah Palin was a smart choice as McCain’s running mate?

Alex Castellanos: I think Sarah Palin did something for the McCain campaign that most running mates don't do -- she gave the McCain campaign about three good weeks of lift. But more than that, she gave them a message. Until Sarah Palin came along, most Republicans, most Americans didn't know what the McCain campaign was about, what it was going to do. And with her choice, McCain sent a signal that this campaign is about changing Washington because sometimes, you know, Washington's not going to change itself.

[john43218]

Vote like you are a Smart AMERICAN and not just a "D", because, by the way, that so called "D" stands for : "DUMB A-- change"

America deserves better than a person with 143 days on the job-- it deserves someone with: Experiance.

And, in this election it is the ''R'' that will bring that experiance. It is imperative you all ''Get that'' before the inexperianced extreme liberal marxist gets you f*ked.

[albertw40]

He can only rebound if one of two things happen: (1) A major terrorist attack; (2) People forget. McCain has to somehow make folks like me forget that he and those around him were the ones who helped cause the economic meltdown in the first place. He has surrounded himself with lobbyists like Rick Davis who got millions from Fannie and Freddie. McCain and his next Secretary of the Treasury Phil Gramm voted for and promoted the very deregulation which led to all this. His advisers (like Carly Fiorina) got huge golden parachutes for laying people off work. While people were losing jobs, homes, pensions, health care, retirement funds (2 Trillion in the last two weeks), and while ordinary people were paying the highest inflation in 27 years, the rich kept getting richer, all because of the "deregulate at any cost" philosophy. Bush-Cheney, McCain-Gramm forgot a basic fact. The Middle Class working people are the backbone of this country. When you encourage corporations to become more profitable (temporarily) by laying off half their workers, you are encouraging eventual economic downfall. That''s what McCain-Gramm, Bush-Cheney did. I''ll never forget Bush''s "compassionate conservatistm." It turned out to be compassion for the rich and shaft the poor. No matter what he says or claims, I would expect more of the same from John McCain.

[lost4words]

He may be able to rebound but, due to his short arms, I don''t think he can dunk.

[G H M]

Yes --
McCain will be in Congress and Palin will be Impeached.

[ttkkdd]

Vote for Grand Oil Party this November. That way, the stock will continue to dive and this will create a nice buying opportunity for those of us with wads of cash lying around now. And with increasing unemployment, this will keep inflation in check. Better news for us with money to burn.

[ttkkdd]

Vote for Sarah this fall. She just might become the prettiest president we''ve ever had. Wink, wink!

[ttkkdd]

Vote for Sarah this November. Keep the dream of a *** president alive. Wink!

[ttkkdd]

Vote GOP this November. And make sure to buy stocks in Exxon, HMOs, Haliburton, and General Dynamics.
Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran!

[babooph]

Crooked wall street guys,whaco Christians ,uneducated six pack addicts,old men-that is a tough co- alition to beat !!

[pr_boxer]

Its the beginning of a new week, I wonder which side of the economic fence McCain will wake up in this week?

First he was the leader of the bailout plan, then a couple days later he wonts to buy the foreclosures, then he decides that maybe the 70 year olds shouldn''t have to cash out their 401K''s, maybe if he sold his 7 homes.. or was it 9, and his 13 autos that would prime the financial pump. He needs to check with Cindy on that first!

[kolsa]

For a man aspiring to the huigest office in the free world. Americans and the world expects better conduct from that person . After all he really governs the destiny of the planet. I am simply appalled at the conduct of McCain''s campaingn and the level to which an acclaimed war hero has sunk. He tried putting the gennie back in the bottle but I shudder to think what the reaction to an assassination attempt or it succeding on Barak Obama would look like on the streets of America. I find it the height of brinkmanship by any political leader and has overtones of Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe behavior against the white race in that country. McCain is supposed to be a Reganite. Not on his life would Ronald Reagan ever resort to the kind of behavior McCain''s surrogates have lowered this race to.Mr McCain just so you know, you are no Ronald Reagan so dont pretend to be.

[lewby54]

McCain should call his dogs off, this Ayers subect has been beatin to the ground. So what. Maybe we should talk about his wife'' Cindy stealing pain killers from her own charity! How bout that? How about his wifes refusal to file any sort of income report? hillary did, Obama did.If Johny can fly on her jets she can report too. How bout friendship with the neo-con terrorist and felon G Gordon Liddy of Watergate infamy? YEA ANOTHER SUPER SECRET GOVERNMENT IN THE WORKS! NO WAY!
h t t p://w w w.squidoo.com/McCain_and_Gordon_Liddy

[jgunther7]

McCain wants to give $300 million to the country of Georgia. With the collapse of George Bush%u2019s economic policies, that money would be better spent on the state of Georgia.

[harbinger09]

I don''''t know what magazine cover you saw but the child is between 16- 18 years old - she''''s not a baby..

Posted by MajTHJ at 03:20 PM : Oct 11, 2008

I know old the child is, I call her a child because most of my children are older than she is. I wrote that the cover of Newsweek did not carry her picture, or do you (like Sarah Palin) skip over the names and therefore do not know any newspapers or magazines.

[harbinger09]

Any democrats want to comment regarding the democrats controling Congress and the Senate for the last (2) years? Barney Franks and democratic company overseeing Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac/ making loans to people allowing their monthly welfare checks as only source of income (reality check:

Posted by MajTHJ at 02:20 PM : Oct 11, 2008


The subprime laws governing Freddie and Fannie were enacted in 1998 with a bipartisan Congress--one house was controlled by the Dems and the other by the Republicans. Following that control, from 2000 to 2006 the Republicans had an absolute majority and could have dismantled anything as well as take us into wars based on lies and condone torture and illegal wiretapping. When they wanted to, they would lock the Dems out of the chambers while they voted.

In 2000, Gramm and McCain pushed and got deregulation of banks (means no or few rules for them and no one watching them) In 2005, Gramm pushed through deregs for shorting and the use of splintering mortgages into tertiary instruments to sell off. So you were saying? Idiot.

[harbinger09]

Rumors are Obama supporters planted people among Hillary''''s rallies and McCain''''s to yell out vile remarks.
Hey, whatever it takes to win - at this point I wouldn''''t put anything past the Obama camp.
McCain is such a racist him and his wife adopted a black child as an infant who is now an adult.

Posted by MajTHJ at 03:08 PM : Oct 11, 2008


1. No matter if a person was planted--McCain and Palin did not speak out against the yeller''s remarks or did Obama tape up their mouths at that point too?

2. The child that was adopted is considered Caucasian no matter the skin color because the child is Pacific -Indian or Bengali and that is from the Caucasoid group. Cindy adopted the child from the Mother Teresa Orphanage in Bangledesh --and the McCains love her so much, that when they took their family portrait for Newsweek earlier--the little Bengali daughter was missing. Geeez--even when you try to support McCain, you still fall back on the Bush smear McCain with a black child talking points. McCain has an entire group of losers supporting him, alright.

[harbinger09]

DOUCMENTS AND VIDEO PROVE PALIN IGNORES SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE!!!! Sarah Palin''''s own records and video show her at her Wasilla Assemblies of God church promising church members that she will do all she can to inject God into the government. What the congregation and other taxpayers did not know--is that the plane trip, hotel and expenses to Wasilla were paid for by the taxpayer as Palin charged the entire trip to government expenses.

Wow, stay tuned Sarah--you are in the big leagues now--and you can''''t hide behind moose dressing or a misunderstanding--no respect for the law, no respect for the Constitution...when this is over, you may wish YOU were Bill Ayers.

http://www.rr.com/view/content
/story.cfm?storyId=5984716&view=HOME&new
sgroup=9000&sSect=HOM_1

Posted by harbinger09 at 02:46 PM : Oct 11, 2008

[dinslc]

I heard one pundit say that up to 70% of "undecideds" will vote for McCain, because of subtle, unconscious, feelings regarding Obama''s race.


This will be a close election to the end.

[fladuck]

Mr. Castellanos, I too, admire you, even though I am a Democrat. Only, have to wonder at your optimism. as in the paragraph here;
================
Alex Castellanos: I think, on occasion, politics reflects real life. Who knew? And this is one of those moments. I think it''s incumbent on Republicans not to display a lack of confidence in our ability to deal with the real challenges that confront the country and especially economic challenges.

I mean, McCain''s actually got a great story to tell there. Raise taxes now, you can pull the economy over a precipice. Put a Democratic Congress and a Democratic President in there to spend, to regulate and tax, you know, you''re gonna have a car with two accelerators and no brake pedal when the country is on the edge of an economic crisis.
=============
the problem with that last assessment, is that after the nightmare we lived through the past eight years, a tax and spend and regulate government would be like a cooling balm on inflamed skin.

[lordmi]

now they need just to find idiots, who will believe in McCain''s ability for change.

In fact he sounds, he thinks, he lives in a very-very past. And his ideas are baby talking.His shaken moves are annoying. Do you see - nobody cares about his ideas. Nobody expects him to create anything.
He is frozen in Vietnam POW image.