Mark Penn meets the press
Posted: Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:24 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
2008, Clinton
From NBC's Chuck Todd
At one of Washington's favorite morning pastimes -- the Christian Science Monitor breakfast -- chief Clinton strategist Mark Penn pushed back on this notion the campaign has started to shift into general election mode.
In response to various questions from reporters about electability and
Giuliani, Penn took pains to emphasize that they are solely focused on running an "all-out" primary campaign. Penn added that what's working in the primary just happens to be working with general election voters as well, apparently.
As for previewing the general, Penn did make some interesting predictions, including claiming that Clinton could peal away as much as 24% of Republican women which, in turn, could put the "next" five or six states in play. He didn't name those states, but presumably he means lean red states from 2004 -- like Missouri, Virginia, or even some of those western states.
Speaking of those western states, he said folks shouldn't read too much into Clinton's relatively poorer poll showings in Colorado and Nevada because as this campaign has shown, the longer Clinton spends in a state or region, the better her chances. Might we expect a western state listening tour should she become the nominee? Hmmmm.
Of course, while Penn advised against reading too much into general election polls out West, he continually brought up general election polling in Florida and Ohio. And he added that if Giuliani is the nominee, she's the only Democrat that could keep New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania in the Dem column. (Isn't that the same argument Giuliani makes? Are the two New York campaigns using the same tactical electability message?)
As for whether Penn committed news, he tried not to. But expect that 24% prediction to become a regular conventional wisdom talking point among the Beltway chattering class.