Yvonne Rice tells all!
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Title: What John McCain needs to do to become President View count: 514 Rating: 3.67 (3 ratings) Description: After campaigning to become the president for nearly two decades John McCain is finally just a step away. The former Vietnam vet and POW practically vomits red, white and blue from the podium. Many of the media claim that the "conservative base" don't like McCain...yet the conservative base must be a new term for the media because McCain is polling better among conservatives today then Bush Jr did at any point during his 2000 campaign. So, McCain is on the right track, but what does he have to do to win? 1. Convince America that National Security is the #1 issue McCain is always going to beat Obama on the question of National security. Today the polls show that American's Trust McCain over Obama on this issue better then 2:1. McCain has to take this high ground and wrap all the other issue around it. He needs to take high gas prices and sell America on the idea that it's all OPEC's fault and that we are at the mercy of the middle east for our oil. This is slightly risky because it's not true, but truth in politics is a relative thing. 2. Embrace the inner old guy One of the key lessons of political science is that you can't pretend to be what you're not. Hilary Clinton tried to run a campaign of being a nice lady with emotions and sugar plum fairies...it cost her the primaries because that's not who she is. McCain is a crotchety old man and needs to embrace that role of the well experienced old guy. This will not only secure the old vote for him, which happens to be the biggest block btw, but it will also garner the respect of those people who voted for Clinton: women and working class whites. Many feel that McCain must do something to combat his image as being two steps away from the grave, but it's over hyped. McCain will do far better to take the Reagan road of embracing his age, then to try and show he's hip. Being hip is Obama's strong suit and any attempt by McCain to be hip will be counter productive in that it will make him look even older. 3. Economics This is the issue that is the dagger in McCain's cloak. McCain has 20+ years worth of quotes about how he doesn't understand the economy. In an economic downturn like ours, that's not good. McCain HAS to pick a VP who is an economic genius, who's not named Mitt Romney. I don't know if that guy even exists, but wherever he is, McCain better find him. 4. Avoid Individualization of the Campaign McCain must keep Obama occupied in town hall meetings and debates. If this election comes down to individual speeches then McCain can pack it up and go home. Obama captures the imagination with his speeches. McCain captures your attention with the fact that he can't raise his arms up and that he often drifts into space. This is a danger zone. 5. Clarion call of Clarity McCain preaches a message that has a lot of liberal undertones in it. Obama preaches a message that has a lot of conservative undertones. This is an election of murky details and muddled positions. If McCain wants to win he must find simple platforms that are so crystal clear that America cannot miss it. I would jump on something like "put your money where your mouth is" and use such a campaign to push is 300 million dollar prize for a battery. He needs to use it to call out senators/congressmen on pork spending, etc. In a grumpy old man with an Arizona edge way, he needs to put out a simple one line message of clarity. McCain may be the underdog, but his present position leaves him with less to do then Obama. His campaign has been run flawlessly so far, but now the contest between his strong suits and Obama's begins... Tags: election, john, mccain2008, presidential, Author: jandrewclark |
