Playing His Own Game

[babylonsister]

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=playing_his_own_game

Playing His Own Game

For years, Republicans have out-played Democrats, particularly on media strategy. This year, with Barack Obama, Democrats have the upper hand.


Paul Waldman | July 29, 2008 | web only

snip//

It's a common myth that campaigns are won by the candidate with the most money; there are plenty of examples of wealthy candidates spending millions of dollars of their own money to little effect. But all else being equal, you want to be the candidate with the bulging bank account. And that candidate is Obama: As of the end of June, he had raised more than twice as much money as McCain -- $339 million to McCain's $145 million -- and had more than twice as much left in the bank. The greater amount of money that Obama spent in the primaries, furthermore, is an investment that will produce enormous dividends. Since Obama had to battle Hillary Clinton in all 50 states, he left behind organizers and volunteers who are now being reactivated in every corner of the country.

One of the things that all that money buys is people. According to The Boston Globe, "As of May 31, the Obama campaign staff was well over twice the size of the Bush re-election campaign staff in 2004 and nearly three times the size of McCain's current staff, and has expanded significantly since." At this rate, Obama's could end up being the largest and most widely spread campaign in history.

Then there's the Internet. A campaign's Web strategy is a complex and many-faceted enterprise, much of which is invisible to an outside observer, but it's fair to say that the Obama campaign has created the most effective and fruitful Internet effort of any presidential campaign. It isn't just a means by which supporters can pour funds into the campaign's bank account; it's also an extraordinary organizing tool. McCain's Internet effort is anemic by comparison.

This isn't entirely the McCain campaign's fault. As one influential Internet strategist recently stressed to me, one can't overestimate the importance of demographics in assessing different candidates' Internet efforts. Because so many Obama supporters are people who are used to using the Internet for things like social networking and donating money, it was only natural that they would help build the Obama Internet machine into a key part of the campaign. McCain's supporters, on the other hand, are much more likely to be older and therefore either aren't online at all or are online in a more limited, Web 1.0 kind of way.

Perhaps the most important difference between the two campaigns lies in their core messages. Look back at recent elections, and you see again and again that the eventual winner had a clear, simple, easily understood message, a story he wanted the public to hear that could be summed up in a single sentence. Obama's message has been the same since he began his campaign (and even before): He is the candidate of change, hope, and unity. Ergo, "Change We Can Believe In," all three ideas conveyed in five words. And McCain? One day he's the candidate of reform, one day he's the candidate of strength, one day he's the candidate of '60s-era cultural resentments, one day he's "the American president Americans have been waiting for."

snip//

The real danger for McCain is that his campaign's ineptitude might bring on the stench of defeat. Republicans have for some time benefited from a widespread belief among reporters that they were winners -- after all, the press views politics largely as a game, and Republicans were better players. Reporters admired their greater willingness to play dirty, their instinct for the jugular, and their raw thirst for power. Democrats, on the other hand, were derided as wimps and losers, not man enough to contend with their adversaries. For instance, instead of condemning Karl Rove as a toxic virus on the body politic with the morals of a cockroach, reporters exalted him as a sage and a magician.

But now, it's a Democrat who strolls up to the three-point line and calmly knocks it down. You could almost feel sorry for McCain, watching helplessly as his younger, abler opponent passes him by.

Almost.

[BlooInBloo]

1. This is why I laugh at DUers who are sooooo scared about the right-wing's grip on talk radio....

Who gives a fuck - it's a dinosaur technology used by dinosaurs. Let them have their talk radio. I'll take the internet against THAT going forward, any day of the week.

[babylonsister]

2. History has forced me to be cautious. But articles like this

make me feel a tad more optimistic.