Branding Politix, Leadership, Messaging, Strategic Blueprints, Views on News • August 17th, 2009

Doyle’s decision

by Chris Lato

From a political junkie’s perspective, the news about Gov. Doyle is seismic. It blows all the current conventional wisdom out of the water and makes this anybody’s race (with a definite advantage for the GOP).

And yet, Gov. Doyle’s announcement that he will not seek a third term is not necessarily cheery news for the state in the short term. The governor is leaving Wisconsin in worse shape than he found it. There’s no joy or gloating in that statement. We have deep problems that need a fresh perspective ASAP.

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Branding Politix, Strategic Blueprints, Views on News, public relations • December 9th, 2008

A surcharge on suds?

by Chris Lato

I reference this story in this week’s poll – a movement is afoot to hike taxes on alcohol in Wisconsin.

Trying to raise the tax on alcohol in a state known for its powerful tavern lobby and general love for all things alcohol-enhanced poses a lobbying and PR challenge in the best of times, and the DAs association will likely face an uphill climb with this one.

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Branding Politix, Leadership, Messaging, Views on News • December 2nd, 2008

D’oh!

by Chris Lato

You just knew some enterprising reporter would start digging this stuff up. It doesn’t make much of a difference now, but candidates and potential candidates always need to remember that any public statements, including blogs and definitely remakes said during a campaign, can always bite the speaker in the behind later.

If Hillary Clinton had no substantive foreign policy credentials nine months ago, why has Barack Obama suddenly reversed course and decided Clinton is fully qualified to become secretary of state? Read the Washington Post link for an example of how Obama is now trying to brush it all off as the press ‘having fun.’ Apparently he was let off the hook after that, because the story doesn’t offer much more on Obama’s response.

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Branding Politix, Messaging, public relations • November 7th, 2008

Robert Gibbs and the importance of PR

by Chris Lato

Is it any wonder that one of President-elect Obama’s first decisions is to appoint a press secretary? That is how important PR is to a president, and it should be just as important to you, the business leader or association executive director. This is the day-to-day face of the administration we’re talking about.

Robert Gibbs has a prior relationship with Obama, so it’s no surprise that he picked someone he is comfortable with. A right-hand man with in-the-trenches experience knows how to articulate the boss’s positions and feelings as good as anyone.

I bring this up because it is a good lesson for all businesses and organizations: PR matters. Communication matters. In a time when many businesses are looking at PR, marketing and communications as the first places to cut in the current economic climate, the opposite stance should be considered.

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Branding Politix, Views on News, wispundits • November 6th, 2008

How does the GOP rebuild?

by Chris Lato

Rather than write the answer to that question, I spoke about it. Go to Wisconsin Public Radio and listen to my appearance today with Joy Cardin on the state of the GOP, and where the party should consider going from here. (The appearance was at 7 AM today).

As always, thanks to Joy and her team for the invitation and the hospitality.

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Branding Politix, Leadership, Messaging, Views on News • November 5th, 2008

The day after

by Chris Lato

Well, holy cow.

I have to admit I wasn’t quite prepared for the magnitude of the losses the GOP would experience on election day. After 2006, I wondered how much lower the Republicans could go. I now have my answer.

In the days before Tuesday, I heard talk from those in the know that Republicans could at least hold onto the Assembly. Um, nope. It’s really a clean sweep for the Dems, and it is apparent now that Barack Obama’s coattails were very long indeed. It helps to have an unprecedented amount of campaign cash, but I don’t want to get into sour grapes here.

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2008 Primaries, Branding Politix, Speeches • September 4th, 2008

Palin hunting

by Chris Lato

Read this article. Does anything just leap out at you right out of the gate? How about referring to a teenage daughter of a vice-presidential candidate as ‘stupid?’ How about Palin’s ‘out of control home life’ will resonate with Americans if ‘they’re from Mars or perhaps on welfare’?

Have we really fallen that far in American news and comment when flat-out mean-spirited name-calling directed at a 17-year old girl passes as solid reportage? Or does it merely reflect the Daily Kos-ification of political news coverage?

Now check out this article. The gist of it is, a very slim majority of Americans believe the press is out to get Sarah Palin. That may be a troubling sign for Democrats.

Part of what makes Palin’s selection so brilliant, and that feeds into the McCain ‘maverick’ image, is that she is truly a Washington outsider. She hasn’t spent decades in Washington, or made a career of carefully calibrated choices with an eye on the biggest political prize she could score. The press doesn’t like to be kept out in the cold, and a decision like this one really shuts them out.

One thing McCain needed was a sense of energy and excitement around his campaign, something to rally around. It wasn’t there a week ago, but it’s there now. Democrats didn’t expect this choice and are struggling with how to respond. Some extremists are lashing out.

I’m not saying Palin is above criticism. Her record is absolutely fair game. The press can ask about her record on taxes, foreign policy inexperience, the Bridge to Nowhere, etc. She’d better have honest, straightforward answers.

But these vicious attacks on her family are truly offensive – and that would be true if it was a Democrat or a Republican. And it threatens to backfire as people believe Palin is being unfairly raked over the coals because she doesn’t fit the mold of what a Republican candidate for vice president ‘should’ or was expected to be.

Every time a member of the press goes after Palin with especially crass name-calling, or calls her teenage daughter ‘stupid,’ or her home life ‘out of control,’ it serves to validate long-held conservative beliefs that by and large, the press is in the tank for Democrats in general and Barack Obama in particular. Will that turn off some in middle America so much that McCain-Palin reap the benefits?

As for the speech before the RNC last night…impressive. She took it to the Obama/Biden ticket. The game is afoot.

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2008 Primaries, Branding Politix, Leadership, Messaging, Speeches • September 3rd, 2008

RNC: Day 1.5

by Chris Lato

It was an odd, and oddly compelling night of political theater in the Twin Cities.

Last night, I chose to watch PBS for the run-up to the prime time coverage, then tuned in to CBS and Katie Couric. Last week, NBC was my network of choice for the DNC.

Perhaps I should have watched the same network to conduct a fairer assessment of tone, but I was amazed as the persistence with which Couric pursued attack lines of questioning about VP nominee Sarah Palin. The DNC did not receive the same level of tough questioning from NBC in the coverage I saw. That is not an apples-to-apples comparison but it is now abundantly clear that certain segments of the press are really out to get Palin. The idea of Palin potentially being the next vice president is really riling some people up. We shall see whether she rises to the challenge as the top speaker tonight.

That said, the speeches Tuesday night were relatively low-key. President Bush delivered his address via satellite and focused on McCain, instead of trying to polish up his own record. Laura Bush, by all accounts a charming First Lady, offered a somewhat halting speech.

Then came Fred Thompson, which led me to wonder again why he flamed out in the primaries. I hadn’t made up my mind about who to vote for but was leaning toward Thompson, and his eloquent support of McCain was well done.

And then there was Joe Lieberman. I questioned the wisdom of putting Lieberman on in prime time, and I definitely think McCain dodged a bullet by not picking Lieberman as his running mate.

Initially, the crowd seemed understandably reluctant to embrace Lieberman. After all, this guy was (is?) a Democrat, the VP nominee in 2000 alongside Al Gore. He now calls himself independent, but also referred to himself as a Dem during the speech.

But what a speech. No one would accuse Lieberman of being a ball of fire on the stump, but his wholehearted embrace of McCain and repudiation of Obama’s candidacy had to have at least a few top Democrats reaching for the Pepto-Bismol. At the very least, Lieberman’s very direct appeals to the viewers at home had to touch a few fence-sitters out there. Democrats supporting Republicans…dogs and cats living together…mass hysteria!

All told, the RNC didn’t offer the same intensity level as the DNC in terms of rhetorical flourish, but the drama is there and there will be plenty more where that came from.

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2008 Primaries, Branding Politix, Messaging, Views on News • September 2nd, 2008

Pickin’ on Palin

by Chris Lato

While this will be picked over thoroughly in the weeks to come, on balance, John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin is a maverick move from someone who has positioned himself as a maverick candidate. If you want a real Washington outsider, they don’t get much more ‘outside’ than the governor of Alaska.

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2008 Primaries, Branding Politix, Events, Speeches, Strategic Blueprints, Views on News • August 29th, 2008

DNC: A wrap-up

by Chris Lato

History was made this week, and that alone is worthy of acknowledgement. Barack Obama is America’s first black major-party nominee for President. Respect and praise are due. Congratulations to Senator Obama.

As for Obama’s speech last night, was there ever any doubt that Obama could deliver the goods? The words were a combination of bromides, some substance, and a surprising number of shots across the bow directed at John McCain. The pressure to start hitting back at McCain has clearly rattled Team Obama. Politics is politics, after all – despite the claims by some that they are above political gamesmanship. At some point, Obama had to engage, and he chose to do so before an audience of 30 million. It will be interesting to watch the response, particularly in terms of the size of the poll bump Obama will enjoy.

If anything, it could be said that Obama was a victim of his handlers’ hubris. The stage from which Obama spoke, a sort of Parthenon-meets-West-Wing thing that, amazingly, erupts in fireworks at the end of speeches, was a glitzy and perhaps overreaching touch. The spectacle, with 80,000-plus in a big stadium, could be seen as a continuation of the ‘celebrity’ positioning that Obama enjoys, and McCain has criticized as being shallow.

Increasingly, the race is centering on a Big Theme: Change vs. Experience. By any reasonable measure, Obama has enjoyed a meteoric rise with a fairly thin resume but far less baggage as ‘just another politician’ (although a major party candidate, by definition, is a politician no matter how you try to spin it). Meanwhile, McCain has decades of experience as a legislator, but could be broadly painted with the ‘Washington insider’ brush.

Next up – the GOP gets its turn, starting today with McCain’s choice for VP. (CNBC says it’s Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska.) It will either be a brilliant choice or a huge disappointment. I don’t see much room for in-between on this one.

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