McCain: 'Gvt. isn't always the answer'
Posted: Thursday, April 24, 2008 9:14 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
2008, McCain
The LA Times looks at McCain's poverty tour. “McCain (R-Ariz.) tried to position himself somewhere between Johnson and Reagan while campaigning here Wednesday, styling himself as a compassionate conservative but emphasizing his crusade against ‘wasteful’ government spending. ’I wouldn't be back here today if government had fulfilled the promises that Lyndon Johnson made 44 years ago,’ McCain told reporters as his campaign bus rolled through the green hills of eastern Kentucky. ‘The moral of the story is -- government isn't always the answer.’”
More: "A centerpiece of McCain's speech was an economic initiative that would give tax write-offs to companies that offered high-speed Internet access to low-income people. In towns where businesses won't offer that aid, he said, the government would make government-backed loans or low-interest bonds available. Otherwise, the third day of McCain's tour of America's ‘forgotten places’ seemed largely symbolic. When a reporter asked what could be done about healthcare coverage in Appalachia, as well as the high rates of diabetes, obesity and cancer, McCain said his administration would emphasize ‘wellness and fitness.’”
The Washington Post looks at the tour and notes: "McCain is reaching out to voters in these Democratic strongholds to try to build the broad, center-right coalition that aides believe is necessary for him to become president. Advisers do not think Republicans alone can elect McCain, given how many have become disenchanted with President Bush and his policies. McCain's "Time for Action" tour is less about specific proposals; those will come later, advisers said. The important part, they said, is for McCain to lay the groundwork in places such as Inez to credibly claim that he cares about the people who live on the edge of the modern economy. In effect, McCain is launching Version 2.0 of Bush's ‘compassionate conservative’ campaign."
Here's a story that has to make the McCain camp feel good; they've driven a tiny wedge between the candidates over his gas tax holiday. Obama's against it on fiscal terms; Clinton's open to the idea.
Who else read between the lines of the Rick Davis campaign strategy memo and saw all the pro-Clinton/anti-Obama stuff and wondered who the campaign was preparing to run against? A sample of Davis' bullet points:
-- Exit polls reveal why this poses significant problems for Obama if he becomes the nominee.
-- The cracks in Obama's Democratic coalition in Pennsylvania mirror what we saw in Ohio, and those cracks could have implications in November.
-- Hillary Clinton cleaned up with Union households - like she did in Ohio.
-- Clinton did better than Obama with lower income voters.
-- Clinton won Catholic voters.
-- Clinton won Jewish voters.
-- Clinton increased her margins in suburban and rural areas - without losing ground in urban areas.
-- Clinton won Pennsylvania suburbs by 12-points
