**Urgent Appeal** from "Open Left" to Dem Strategists about McCain..

[KoKo]

Crucial Time In The Presidential Race

by Mike Lux
Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 11:09
The meta-dynamics of this year's election are so strongly in our favor - the endless war, the melting economy, the passion on our side and the lack thereof on theirs - that I had until recently been continuing to guess we would win this election. If the Republicans had nominated anyone other than McCain, or if the Democratic race had ended on March 4, I think this would have been pretty easy. But I now think that there is a really significant chance, perhaps even better than 50-50, that McCain will win this election, even as we are picking up seats in the House and Senate. That would be a terrible tragedy, as the country has huge problems to solve and not much time to do it, and John McCain will be like a deer in the headlights as all of these crises surge over him all at once.

I think it is absolutely essential that all groups, all donors (big and small), all bloggers and activists who care about beating McCain, focus your attention on defining him now. I know that many of you have a primary you are trying to win, and I understand that - I've got a horse I'm riding too, and I'm spending time working on that. However, winning a primary doesn't mean anything if you lose the general election.

If you represent an organization with the resources to run anti-McCain ads, or a donor who can help such an organization, do it now, friends. There will be plenty of money to run a strong general election campaign. Now is the time for outside efforts to get going against McCain. Otherwise, we are going to have a McCain defined on his terms, as a genuine reformer, an independent minded guy who stands up to the special interests in his own party, and can clean up Washington. That's a tough theme for us to beat if we're starting two months out, especially with the media slavering all over him.

This is an absolutely critical period of time in the Presidential - the spring of a Presidential election year, when a nominee is already picked, is always the moment when the dynamics of voters feelings about the candidate get defined, and the frame of the race is cast in - if not in stone, then a highly solid metal. We need to pound away at McCain's vulnerabilities, and he has many.

For all of those staffers in groups reading along, I know that you have super-secret strategies you can't reveal right now, but if there is anything that you can tell us about your plans to define McCain, let us know what you are doing by responding to this post.

http://www.openleft.com/

[Kurovski]

1. K&R. (nt)

[PVnRT]

2. K&R

:kick:

[cbayer]

3. This is our opportunity to make lemonade.

The Clinton and Obama platforms are so similar that it should be a no-brainer to start challenging McCain's platform. In addition, McCain doesn't know who he is running against and is having to challenge them both when he stumps. Because the demographic groups "owned" by Clinton are different than those "owned" by Obama, McCain doesn't know what groups to target. We really have an opportunity to hurt him now even though we have not clearly defined who our candidate will be.

[CK_John]

4. I think it is foolish to believe McCain will be their nominee. n/t