2008 Primaries, Branding Politix, Messaging • August 11th, 2008

Awkward…

by Chris Lato

Russ Feingold still likes John McCain a lot. And whether Republicans like it or not, the comments from Feingold within this article are exactly the kind of support McCain needs if he wants to win Wisconsin. Stories like this must make a lot of hard-core left-wingers in Wisconsin absolutely nuts.

What does a story like this do for the Wisconsin maverick types out there who respect and support Senator Feingold for his independence? Make no mistake – Feingold is liberal on the vast majority of the issues of the day. But he is also generally unafraid to speak his mind, and his work with McCain over the years (on issues like campaign finance ‘reform,’ which has enemies across the political spectrum) shows that indeed, McCain is capable of crossing the aisle to get work done, even if there is a massive effort afoot to paint McCain as a cranky old man who would effectively be Bush 44.

After all, who knows McCain better than someone who has worked at his side in the Senate for years, and is trusted as an independent voice, even if you disagree vehemently with his political views? Feingold has the kind of credibility among Wisconsin independents and ‘Reagan Democrats’ that McCain is going to need to carry the state.

The thinking right now generally goes that McCain’s campaign has effectively ‘gone negative’ against Barack Obama (like it or not, that Britney Spears/Paris Hilton ad got McCain some traction) and now the time has come to mix some positive in with the Obama-bashing. That should come around national convention time.

And that is the next big step for both candidates, along with choosing a running mate. National conventions are now little more than coronations, effectively drained of the type of hard-nosed politicking of the good ol’ days - but the ways these candidates position themselves, and the resulting bump both candidates get from their respective conventions, will set the tone for the campaign communications to come.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 11:24 am and is filed under 2008 Primaries, Branding Politix, Messaging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.