Oh-eight (D): Rove's reverse psych

Posted: Monday, August 20, 2007 9:04 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under: Democrats

So is Karl Rove using reverse psychology on Democrats regarding Clinton v. Obama? The Los Angeles Times' Wallsten lays out the case that Rove may be attacking Clinton as a way to get Democrats to rally around her because secretly the GOP fears Obama. Wallsten notes that the Bush campaign -- in 2004 -- did a similar thing. "With his Southern base, charismatic style and populist message, Edwards, they believed, could be a real threat to Bush's reelection. But instead of attacking Edwards, Rove's team opened fire at Kerry. Their thinking went like this, Dowd explained: Democrats, in a knee-jerk reaction to GOP attacks, would rally around Kerry, whom Rove considered a comparatively weak opponent, and make him the party's nominee. Thus Bush would be spared from confronting Edwards, the candidate Republican strategists actually feared most."

"Is Rove playing a similar game against Clinton? Is he trying to stampede Democrats into nominating her, having concluded that Obama, Edwards or someone else would pose a stiffer challenge to the Republican nominee?"

The California Nurses Association is running three TV ads in Iowa advocating a single-payer health-care system. The ad campaign began Sunday, coinciding with ABC's Iowa debate. Created by North Woods Advertising, the ads have three different endings individually targeting Clinton, Obama and Edwards.

Speaking of Iowa, the "Cast your Kernel" poll at the Iowa State Fair conducted by our NBC Des Moines affiliate, WHO-TV, is over and the winners are: Clinton for the Dems and Romney for the GOP. Edwards finished second, Obama third. Huckabee was second on the GOP side, inching ahead of Giuliani after his straw poll surge.

BIDEN: The Boston Globe: “Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden aired his first campaign advertisement Sunday, casting himself as the only candidate with a viable strategy for a sustainable peace in Iraq.”

KUCINICH: The candidate met with the Boston’s Globe’s editorial board and on Saturday, and the paper wrote Kucinich believes “his support will build as voters realize that he reflects many of their views on policies that matter to their lives.”

OBAMA: Given the announcement by the Obama campaign that it will be cutting back on the number of Democratic forums he attends and that he accept invitations only to DNC-sponsored debates, many in yesterday’s spin room after the debate were asked to comment. Obama adviser David Axelrod explained, “It’s just disastrous to keep doing more and more and more of these things, kind of turning the entire Democratic field into a traveling Vaudeville show, rather than spending time and really sitting down with people.” He continued, “It takes, literally days out of your schedule that you could spend campaigning around the country, meeting with voters, and so you want to strike a balance. We want to do these debates,” adding, “They’re a great forum for us, but they can’t consume the campaign.”

Others, though, stressed the importance of the campaigns for candidates in the lower-tier.  Richardson spoke with NBC News, saying that although many people nationwide may not be paying too close of attention before Labor Day, “Debates are important. We ought to do all debates. The American people deserve to see their candidates, especially the candidates that don’t have the money that all the other candidates have for paid media.” 
 
Elizabeth Edwards also weighed in. She decried the time limits that are often placed on candidates during 60- to 90-minute forums, but said that if another format is not feasible, then “maybe, in fact, we do need this.”

Sunday’s Boston Globe took a look inside Camp Obama, a nationwide volunteer training program. “The intensive, two-day workshop was more boot camp than summer camp: The hours were long, the expectations were high, and participants received little more than Einstein's coffee, caramel cream can dies, and a hearty thank you.”

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