Going to the People
March 9th, 2008 at 07:37pm Mark Noonan
John McCain plans a campaign - Steven Hayes has some of the details:
In the months ahead, as he gives definition to his general election campaign, McCain will spend a good chunk of his time visiting places “where Republicans are not often seen,” says an adviser. “Inner cities, poor rural communities, places left behind.” He will speak to concerns about the economy and unveil an “empowerment” agenda designed to serve as a
contrast to “the discredited policies of the 1960s and 1970s.”Not surprisingly, Jack Kemp likes the idea. “I would expect John to do a tour like that,” says Kemp, who is advising McCain. “When he came to the House in 1982, he was a strong supporter of enterprise zones. And as a senator from Arizona, he has done a lot for Native Americans, Latinos, Hispanics. His stance on immigration was by far the most positive in the GOP primaries. He’s comfortable with people who are not WASPy Republicans, not country club Republicans, and that’s what makes some of our friends on the right very nervous. He can reach out to Reagan Democrats, independents, and people of color.”
This plan was hatched before Hillary Clinton’s successful night last Tuesday, when a McCain-Obama contest looked likely. Obama has struggled to win votes from what pollsters describe as “down-market” voters, and McCain advisers are confident their candidate can pick some of them up. Even if Clinton is the nominee, McCain’s outreach to these voters could help him appeal to her main constituency, women.
McCain’s general election campaign will be unconventional in two other aspects, as well. He will continue to provide reporters with virtually limitless opportunities to ask him questions in sessions on his campaign bus and in almost daily media availabilities. And most of his public events will be town halls, not speeches, something that will provide a stark contrast to the tightly controlled campaign of either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.
The practical reason for this is obvious: He needs the “free media” coverage to offset what will be a huge disadvantage in paid media such as TV and radio ads. But McCain also enjoys these interactions with reporters and journalists. He says he needs the intellectual stimulation in order to keep the long days of the campaign from getting boring or repetitive.
The town halls, in particular, present risks. Some crackpot could ask McCain about something obscure in an effort to trip him up–say, a question about his plans for the president’s working group on financial markets. Oh wait, that was Ron Paul during a presidential debate. Same idea. Still, because the campaign does not control which audience members get time with the microphone, McCain is sometimes left to clean up a potential mess on his own.
Both Hillary and Obama have been very scripted and entirely unwilling to engage in the harum-scarum back and forth of politics - part of this is a desire to have a disciplined campaign, part of it is the natural fear all liberals have of being asked a question which requires an actual answer rather than a mindless platitude. For all the Democrats’ talk of being for the people, they show a distinct disinclination to actually be around them as equals. John McCain is a different sort - and it probably stems from his military service, especially the part of being humbled for years at the hands of brutal communists…having to use a latrine bucket tends to scrub the overweening pride off one, you see? McCain, like President Bush and Ronald Reagan before him, likes actual people…not The People, in the abstract, but people…right there next to you, in all their imperfect glory. While there is the risk of saying something foolish, I think the payoff will be good for McCain…people will get comfortable with him, as a person, and thus more willing to put up with him in the White House for the next four years. As I’ve said before, never underestimate the effect of sheer likability on an election.
Outside of the impressions such a thing would create, there is also the substantive differences McCain can and will highlight - while HillBama talk much of helping people, all they really talk about is spending government money…McCain will be able to get into the hearts of the people and in the give and take of a campaign, come to understand their real hopes and dreams, and explain his empowerment agenda not as Leader to Peons, but as man to man. McCain, if he does this right, will be the partner of the American people in the pursuit of happiness - not the All-Knowing, All-Seeing, All-Caring Pasha of Love, as HillBama try to make themselves out to be.
Entry Filed under: Campaign 2008, Republicans
11 Comments
1. plainjane | March 9th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
I like the plan. McCain has first hand knowledge as to how and why the decisions that lead to the decay of our nation’s treasure, infrastructure, morals and standing in the world were formulated and implemented under the watchful eye of President Bush and Republican leadership. The people have questions not answered by President Bush or his staff. President Bush has kept himself and his staff completely away from any kind of decent. The coming months will be a good airing of history and the Bush legacy; less we repeat it. The closer McCain gets to the people the better; no hidden mikes during debates for the straight talking express.
2. Michael | March 9th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
I have mixed emotions about this strategy for sure. McCain was not my choice since the beginning of the race (I was a Romney person) and over the years I developed a dislike for McCain; both his politics and his cocky personality. Having spent a couple of years around Navy pilots during Viet Nam war, he eptiomizes the wise-cracking jet jockies. He’s suffered a lot as a POW and is indeed a hero, but that’s not enough for me. He has alienated the conservative wing of the party and seems to not care much. And the group he intends to swing to his camp will have none of it. Most of America contains reasonable people and only a minority of left-leaning voters. McCain only has to appeal to the majority of Americans who have families, make a living, and worry about things like the economy and our security. That way lies victory. If he picks up a few from the left along the way, so be it, but that should be an afterthought. Go back to the base, to the people who usually support Republicans. I’m none too crazy about McCain, but he’s better than anything the donkeys are offering, so he will get my vote.
3. phil | March 9th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Deleted - off topic.
4. A Running Commentary | March 9th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
A good way to take advantage of Demcrats continued primary fight too - cover some of that middle ground while there attacking one another.
5. Freedom1 | March 10th, 2008 at 12:04 am
I will vote for John McCain in November. That said other Conservative Republicans will need some strong convincing on McCain’s part. So, I have 2 suggestions for John McCain’s campaign strategy:
1) Don’t actively alienate conservative Republicans.
2) Base the McCain campaign on the issues.
Compare and contrast John McCain’s position on national security (VICTORY!) vs. Obama’s/Hillary’s position on national security (surrender).
Compare and contrast John McCain’s position on the economy (lowering taxes, etc.) vs. Obama’s/Hillary’s position on the economy (raising taxes, socialism, communist redistribution of oil company’s profits to benefit their pet social projects.)
Compare and contrast John McCain’s position on healthcare vs. Obama’s/Hillary’s position on healthcare (socialized medicine aka “national healthcare”). Show the disasterous effects of socialized medicine on the Canadian, British and French populations.
Etc…. Each issue, John McCain needs to compare and contrast his American positions versus Obama’s/Hillary’s socialist-communistic positions.
Here’s a terrific guide to the issues: http://newt.org/
6. Dennis | March 10th, 2008 at 12:58 am
Mark, it is curious to hear you speak of “the natural fear all liberals have of being asked a question which requires an actual answer rather than a mindless platitude.”
Would this be why George W. Bush’s advance people screened all audiences at his “public” appearances, and almost nothing but scripted and softball questions were ever asked of him?
7. Dennis | March 10th, 2008 at 1:36 am
Mark, you say “while HillBama talk much of helping people, all they really talk about is spending government money…”
We’re now spending $12 billion a month on the war in Iraq, which McCain intends to maintain. This war is already is expected to cost US taxpayers $3 trillion - which of Clinton’s or Obama’s endeavors are expected to cost US taxpayers that much?
(see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/07/AR2008030702846.html?hpid=opinionsbox1 )
8. congressive | March 10th, 2008 at 1:40 am
McCain loves him some peoples! Especially one’s like this:
During the years Keating was planning his fabulous resort, he and associates contributed $112,000 to McCain’s campaigns, paid for travel by McCain and his family, and let the McCains vacation each year from 1983 through 1986 at Keating’s home in the Bahamas.
Most controversially, McCain was among the five senators who in 1987 met with Ed Gray, chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank board, and, a week later, with regulators in California.
Despite its worsening condition, the feds didn’t seize Lincoln for another two years. The bailout cost $2.6-billion while thousands of Lincoln investors lost almost $200-million. All told, the S&L crisis cost taxpayers $160-billion.
Yessir, that McCain is just one of the peoples. “Specially if they’s got property in the Bahamas.
9. Brian G. | March 10th, 2008 at 7:41 am
Sure, President Bush likes “actual people” just fine. As long as they’re not Godless tax raisers, aren’t liberals, don’t vote, don’t watch the news except Fox, and don’t listen to other Republicans who make fun of him…
Thanks to Will Ferrell for the not-so-ridiculous satire.
In all seriousness, I think Bush’s reputation as a “guy you could have a beer with” is a little over exaggerated. If you watch him at the State of the Union and other events, he signs autographs, shakes hands, and greets people without looking up or acknowledging anyone.
Perhaps he’s a hit in the flyover states because, hey, he can’t put a coherent sentence together either! McCain does a lot of town halls, but that sure as hell doesn’t make him an Average Joe, either.
10. Darva Conger | March 10th, 2008 at 11:04 am
This is great. Perhaps McCain can explain about the Iraq portion of the $12B/month we’re spending on the war on terror.
(I have no beef with what we’re spending in Afghanistan.)
11. Michael | March 10th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
He could make an issue out of this:
Reid Says No
I wonder why…