McCain camp expands, discusses strategy
Posted: Friday, April 18, 2008 3:11 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC’s Domenico Montanaro
The McCain campaign has beefed up its staff -- going from between 90 and 100 staffers after the Texas and Wisconsin primaries to more than 150 currently, campaign aides said in a meeting with about 20 reporters this morning.
Among those brought on board (either working directly with the campaign or in coordination with the campaign or RNC) are:
- Chris DuHaime (Giuliani campaign manager/strategist)
- Frank Donatelli, Lou Eisenberg (fomer RNC fundraising chair -- he’s leading the McCain “Victory” fundraising effort)
- Matt Scully (speechwriting; he had a hand in the recent McCain economic speech and the Memphis MLK speech)
POLLING: The McCain campaign, which has been relying on public polling, is beefing up its internal polling team as well. We’d reported on Bill McInturff’s return, but the campaign is also bringing on board: Linda DiVall and Ed Goeas.
REGIONAL CAMPAIGN MANAGERS: Instead of regional political directors, the campaign has set up what it’s calling Regional Campaign Managers. These 11 individuals will have a great deal of autonomy, including being responsible for budgets. The 11 are:
- Jim Barnett: (campaign’s NH director; responsible for New England -- ME, NH, VT, MA, CT, RI)
- Bill Stepien (formerly of the Giuliani campaign; responsible for NY/NJ)
- John Seaton (campaign’s IA director; PA/OH)
- Doug Davenport (campaign activist, coming on full time; Mid Atlantic -- DE, MD, VA, WV, KY)
- Buzz Jacobs (SC director; Southeast -- TN, NC, SC, GA, AL, MS, FL)
- Gentry Collins (Romney’s IA director; Midwest -- IL, MO, IA)
- Craig Goldman (worked McCain campaign in 2000 as well; South/Midwest – KS, NE, OK, TX, AR, LA)
- Ben Golnik (North: ID, MT, WY, ND, SD, MN)
- Bettina Nava (Southwest/Four Corners: CO, AZ, UT, NM)
- John Peschong (West -- CA, NV, OR, WA, AK)
FUNDRAISING: The campaign has also turned the RNC into an arm of the campaign. In fact, so much so that the campaign is relying, in part, on the RNC’s fundraising efforts. In aggregate (with the RNC’s $20+ million cash on hand, plus the potential in September of $85 million in matching funds – should McCain choose to accept), the campaign is confident it will have “as much on hand as the Democrats” and will have enough money to run a general-election campaign. The campaign also said it has seen an uptick in its funds month after month since the AZ senator secured the nomination ($11 million, then $13 million and then $15 million.). As of last quarter, the campaign had $10 million on hand. Campaign Manager Rick Davis also said online fundraising has seen an uptick (about $20 million raised there), though Davis said he hesitates to even bring up online donations because “we have Obama. That’s an anomaly in history.”
GENERAL-ELECTION STRATEGY: Among the key targets for Victory Fund help, aides said, are Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Mexico and Colorado. They are “important targets” without “great fundraising capabilities.”
Davis and advisers Charlie Black and Steve Schmidt said they have prepared general-election strategies for both Obama and Clinton. And despite spending more time laying out message arguments versus Obama and releasing general-election maps showing Obama garnering more electoral votes than Clinton, Black said, “We have no preference. I’m not sure one’s easier than the other.” He added that McCain can beat either.
Davis focused on McCain’s potential to expand the Republican coalition. He didn’t focus solely on trying to unify the conservative base, but gave equal weight to grabbing the center and even left.
Davis also dismissed concerns of intensity (the so-called “enthusiasm gap highlighted in primary turnout), citing public polling showing seven in 10 Republicans who say they’ll come out for McCain and seven in 10 Democrats who say they’ll definitely come out for the Democrat. He also conceded that many of the polling advantages McCain has now will likely be reduced -- at least some -- when the Democratic nominee is finally known.
“Whoever wins the Democrat nomination will get a bump in their numbers,” Davis said. The question, he said, is, “How big?”
The campaign sees the fall election as a “change” election, and are trying to frame McCain as the best “change” candidate. See the melding/attempt at owning the slogans from the Democrats’ campaigns:
McCain has the “courage, leadership and experience” to bring “the kind of change” that’s needed, Schmidt said. He added that it will be about “Action not talk.”
That echoes the Clinton campaign: (1) “It requires experience to bring change,” Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson said in January. And (2) “Solutions not Speeches” has been a staple of the New York senator's as she has tried to frame the debate against Obama.
CHANGE, CHANGE, CHANGE: Also listed were the areas in which McCain represents “change”:
(1) Climate change
(2) The environment
(3) Economy
(4) National Security
(5) “Forgotten, left behind areas.” McCain will “lift them up, not with old policies, but new policies.”
(6) A call for service “to a cause greater than self interest.”
(On those policies, Schmidt said McCain will slowly release more policy, but not with great detail until the fall when more are paying greater attention.)
‘SIGNIFICANT ENVIRONMENTAL HURDLES’: Davis acknowledged the difficult environment for Republicans. He cited the 81 percent of the country that believes the country is on the wrong track, Bush’s low approval ratings and an economy in recession as “significant environmental hurdles we have to overcome.”
THE MESSAGE V. OBAMA: Black said Obama would be in an “embarrassing position” were he to opt out of his pledge to take public funding. “There will be significant pressure on him,” Black said. “We may get outspent. I don’t think it’ll be by some large margin.” He then said that campaigns get to a point where increased cash leads to “diminishing returns.” He cited that Kerry outraised Bush in 2004, but Bush still won.
Schmidt went further and detailed three areas they will go after Obama that he says are contradictory to the “politics of hope”:
(1) “Is he really going to begin a general election by breaking his campaign finance pledge?”
(2) Obama’s “serially dishonest attacks” on McCain’s statement on a presence in Iraq “after the war ended.” (The “after the war ended” bit isn’t something McCain said in his original remarks, but has since added.)
(3) Obama’s “allowance of attacks on McCain’s age.”
(By the way, on McCain’s age, Mark Salter cited McCain’s schedule being sometimes “two to three times Obama’s schedule,” who Salter said sometimes looks “exhausted.” Black cited, as he has in the past, Ronald Reagan’s age when running for his second term.
NEXT WEEK’S CAMPAIGNING: Schmidt also curtain raised next week’s campaigning across Appalachia. (They will also be hitting rural Alabama, Ohio and Louisiana). Sound like Edwards with a mix of shot at Obama?
McCain will be “traveling this week to places that have been left behind,” Schmidt said. He said they are places that there may be poverty, but also “where there is hope.” It will be about “lifting people up.” Also, McCain will speak on the economy and will recognize the losses in Iraq.
The policy differences between an Edwards poverty tour and a McCain one will be major. McCain will focus on what the “federal government can do to get out of the way” in places that might be “encumbered by excessive regulation or bureaucracy,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt continued, “When he’s [McCain] president, there’ll be no overlooked, left-behind places.”
Another big difference? Taxes, of course. Schmidt said he doesn’t think selling McCain as a third Bush term will work for Democrats. And he gave this message for voters: “Those who think they are undertaxed… they can vote for either Clinton or Obama.”
VP SELECTION PROCESS: This was the one matter the campaign would not discuss.
