At the end of the day, nothing scares political junkies more than campaign strategies that slice and dice the electorate into manageable chunks of issue driven GOTV. McCain’s campaign surely looked at the Democratic ticket and said hrmm. In comes Alaska governor Sarah Palin. And the howls from the left are at full screech. ChrisMC posted campaign junkie Paul Begalia’s comments earlier, which are about are very telling about what is really being said in the Obama war room. Let’s start with panic. Begalia should know, he ran Bill Clinton’s war room along the same lines, which we should all remember well. The pandering to the soccer mom begat the pandering to the Nascar dad and all the sobriquets that campaigners thrust on a voter bloc that needs to hear that the koolaid is just around the corner.
So yeah, McCain’s campaign is making a cynical play to the woman voter. And that’s what his campaign should be doing.
The number one theme that emerged from the Democratic national convention was that 4 more years of the last 8 years of the administration wasn’t what America needed. That message is now negated.
The USA Today points out the delima for Democrats:
The historic nature of Palin’s selection put Democrats in a bind, one that was vividly illustrated by the two contrasting statements the Obama campaign put out after McCain introduced his running mate to a boisterous rally in Dayton, Ohio.
One, issued in the name of the Democratic presidential candidate and his running mate, Joe Biden, was congratulatory, calling Palin’s selection “another encouraging sign that old barriers are falling in politics.”
Clinton herself lauded the choice while maintaining her ideological criticism of the McCain campaign.er ideological criticism of the McCain campaign.
“We should all be proud of Gov. Sarah Palin’s historic nomination, and I congratulate her and Senator McCain,” Clinton said in a statement. “While their policies would take America in the wrong direction, Gov. Palin will add an important new voice to the debate.”
A separate statement from Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton offered a harsh critique of Palin’s credentials, saying McCain “put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.”
Does the Obama campaign really want to decry the foreign policy expereince of a VP pick when their presidential candidate is vunerable to that issue?
Panic.
Campaigns are like chess matches. Part of the art of winning a political campaign is reacting to your opponents moves. McCain’s campaign just out outmaneuvered the Obama campaign in this round. Maybe this won’t be a boring campaign through the final stretch.
