Wednesday, August 6, 2008

What the f#%$&* are they thinking!?!?!?

The past two days we've come across articles/stories about Republican Governors praising Sen. Obama. Why? The gut reaction would be that these Governors clearly are breaking from the McCain team and going off-message. Some surely will write that these Governors are hurting their chances to become VP and that they better play ball. Some will say that McCain's campaign needs to get the GOP message under control.

The Governors? Sarah Palin of Alaska and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota. These two also happen to be two of the top three favorites to get McCain's VP nod on Intrade.com.

Here is what Palin had to say on Tuesday:
“I am pleased to see Senator Obama acknowledge the huge potential Alaska’s natural gas reserves represent in terms of clean energy and sound jobs,” Palin says in the release. “The steps taken by the Alaska State Legislature this past week demonstrate that we are ready, willing and able to supply the energy our nation needs.”
And an article about what Pawlenty had to say today:
"Pawlenty said that Republicans such as Ronald Reagan had ideas, but he added that in recent years, 'The Republican idea factory has seen a little stagnant.'

Pawlenty offered positive comments about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, saying 'people gravitate when you have something positive to say.'"
Now the question is, why do we have two serious candidates for the VP nomination saying good things about Obama at a point when McCain has had his opponent on the ropes?

McCain's people know the celebrity ad worked (1,687,677 views on youtube can't be wrong). A good chunk of swing voters clearly were getting sick of Obama and this strategy finally put them over the edge...but these few voters will only stay away from Obama if McCain pulls them to his side.

So what does the McCain campaign do? They show GOPers as the good guys willing to play ball with the other side. This is a message that hits home with swing voters. They are hitting a couple singles to test the message with higher profile Governors working the message as discussed above...and McCain will now hit the swing voters with ads focusing on his independence from the Party line.

In other words: These two speaking out at this specific time about Obama was completely coordinated by the McCain campaign.

Glad to see the campaign running on all cylinders and with momentum into the media slowdown that will be the Olympics.

Awesome.



Update: An ad released today by the McCain campaign seems to validate an aspect of my theory, that his campaign must now pull out the stops to show his independence and attract the swing voters. Well there isn't a much better way to do that than letting the opposing Party speak for itself.

7 comments:

  1. I think you may be on to something!

    If it was just Palin giving Obama some credit, or just Pawlenty, I would disagree with you. But for both of them to do so within a day or two of each other? Probably not a coincidence.

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  2. Indeed. I was a bit puzzled yesterday with Palin's comment, but the timing here is just too perfect.

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  3. One of Gov. Palin's top priorities is developing her state's natural resources. Do you want her to be a totally partisan "b" like Nancy Pelosi?

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  4. You're completely missing the point, anon. I'm not criticizing Palin at ALL for not being partisan.

    This entire post is about the political aspect of WHY she said what she said.

    Her partisanship is completely different from this conversation. However, if it were an aspect of the topic I would tell you that she has every right to do what she thinks is best for Alaska and I'd still support her.

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  5. My word, they are setting him up for the kill shot.

    Don't be fooled.

    The winner of the presidency will be the one who is more likely to cross party lines. These softball agreements set you up for the kill shot later.

    Smart politics.

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  6. Thanks for the Palin pic.

    She is a goddess.

    If McCain names her as his running mate, I will vote for her (and him).

    Otherwise, I want nothing to do with a McCain presidency.

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  7. The thought that came to mind when I read of Palin's "endorsement" of the Obama drilling plan was of her on her boat putting her foot on the fish flopping on the deck.

    Obama cannot resist changing his position on just about anything. Surely he will change or nuance his position away from drilling, most certainly in ANWR.

    Reducing our dependence upon foreign sources of crude oil, most especially from hostile nations, is a strategic imperative for the US - something that is quite unimportant to Obama.

    Call Palin's "endorsement" damnation by faint praise.

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