McCain to break from election night tradition.

[terrya]

Should anything be read into this?


McCain will depart from election-night tradition

NEW YORK – Republican John McCain is not going to make his election night remarks in the traditional style — at a podium standing in front of a sea of campaign workers jammed into a hotel ballroom.

Oh, the throng of supporters will hold the usual election night party at the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix on the evening of Nov. 4.

But the Republican presidential nominee plans to address another group of supporters and a small group of reporters on the hotel lawn; his remarks will be simultaneously piped electronically to the party inside and other reporters in a media filing center, aides said.

Aides said Thursday that the arrangement was the result of space limitations and that McCain might drop by the election watch party at some other point.

Only a small press "pool" — mostly those who have traveled regularly with the candidate on his campaign plane, plus a few local Arizona reporters and other guests — will be physically present when McCain speaks.

Thomas Patterson, a government professor at Harvard's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, called the arrangement "unusual" but said the campaign may simply be bowing to the reality that the candidate's remarks are geared toward the televised audience rather than those in the hall.

"Addressing your supporters election night is one of those traditions in politics, like where you choose to launch your campaign," Patterson said. "Why wouldn't you want the energy of the crowd? And if you're going to lose, you almost need it even more."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081023/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_election_night

[mzmolly]

1. The only thing I read into this is that they are preparing for a loss?

:shrug:

[OmahaBlueDog]

2. Two immediate thoughts

If he concedes defeat in front of a partisan crowd, given what we've seen at rallies, it could be very ugly. From a PR standpoint, this makes more sense.

If he is going to "express concern about potential voter fraud and look at legal remedies", then he'll want to appear calm and thoughtful, and (again) an angry mob won't help.

[Virginia Dare]

3. They want to make sure he's not in a room with chairs...

he might pull a Bobby Knight?

[The Blue Flower]

4. He'll need to make a quick getaway

And it'll be easier to duck if they throw things at him.

[The Blue Flower]

5. delete dupe