Why McCain Wants--no--NEEDS To Go Up Against Hillary

[demwing]

Another insightful observation from Rachel Maddow, on why McCain needs to face off against Hillary Clinton, rather than Barack Obama.

I think that John McCain has two choices about what kind of 'John McCain' he can be in this campaign. He can be 'John McCain - The Agent Of Change' the maverick, which is the character he gets to play if he's running against Hillary Clinton, and if he's running against Barack Obama, he knows that he can't really compete on change grounds with Barack Obama, so he has to run as the conservative. I think he'd much rather run on the maverick side of things because of the bump he gets from the press on that.

It's about 3:30 into a 5 minute video excerpt from MSNBC, here.

Though Joe Scarborough counters that Obama looks like an easier target lately, and wonders how many more gaffes Obama can make should the Democratic party not soon settle on a candidate, Maddow backs up her point by referring to Chuck Todd's (political director at MSNBC) recent article, where Todd states that :

The first thing McCain needs is for the Democrats to find a nominee. There's a lot of bad conventional wisdom percolating that this drawn out fight is good for McCain. It isn't... at least not yet.

There may be a point where it is good for McCain, say if the fight actually goes all the way to Denver, but short of that, he needs an opponent, badly.

And here, Todd explains why:

...McCain needs the Democrats’ race to end as soon as possible...because he will run two very different campaigns depending on whom he faces. He will either be the steady hand in uncertain times vs. Obama, or he'll be the breath of fresh air and openness in a campaign against Clinton.

Todd elaborates that McCain's sweet spot sits in his ability to run as a maverick, with an image of bucking the system. Also, its noted that its easier to run as a candidate for change when you're running against someone with the last name of Clinton :)

Todd also discusses the geographical challenges facing McCain, depending on his opponent, but ultimately concludes, as does Maddow, that McCain has an easier time against Clinton than he does against Obama.

The entire article can be found here.

I'm sure McSame's listening. Wouldn't you, if you wanted to break free from the Bush legacy? The real question is whether Hillary is listening, and whether she believes a protracted battle between Democratic contenders plays in her favor, or John McCain's.

[tekisui]

1. THis is why I don't think the long Primary hurts the Dems, fatally.

McKain can't focus his fight or his image.

[demwing]

2. To a point...

because it doesn't let McCain morph into character. Also, as Todd states in his article, the Dem candidate is bound to get a bounce, probably 10 points, maybe more. The longer McCain has to eat away at that bounce, the better he does in the GE.

Still, too much battle between the Democratic candidates will weaken both. If this primary can progress civilly, fair enough. But it isn't, and it does not appear to be trending toward that direction. This plays to McCain. We've got to unite against McCain, even if we can't unite behind a a candidate.

We've got to put this country's future ahead of the future of our party leadership.

[tekisui]

3. It is the tone that bothers me,

a long race would be fine, but it deteriorates into a bad re-run. People get sick of hearing the same ole going back and forth.

[futureliveshere]

4. It all depends on how this will end. That 'residual bitterness' will decide the mood in the GE.

HRC is far too shrewd a politician to not publicly portray togetherness. Many of her supporters will listen and reconcile once she does that. BO has always (mostly) kept this above personal attacks and should be able to pull his supporters along for HRC if required.

Of course that won't be required.

[demwing]

7. A Shrewd Politicain? I hope so...

But I have not seen it. ASll I've seen is a political animal, backed into a corner, with its teeth bared and claws out.

[ErinBerin84]

5. As soon as I saw this thread,

I thought of Rachel Maddow saying that about John McCain's image. Haha, not even Scarborough could bring himself to cop to the "Obama has revealed himself!His mask slipped!" when he was asked about that. He was just like, eh, he was probably tired and wanted to get back to the hotel.

Why does David Gregory always introduce Joe as "Morning Joe himself!" What, is he network royalty or something? I also hate how they have each pundit comment on one specific headline and do not allow others to counter, and David Gregory says "Okkk, Moving On!"

[Archnemesis]

6. Clinton would be an easier target

Obama has shown better ability to reach across the aisle. Hillary is too polarizing.