Messaging, Views on News • June 23rd, 2008

Picking up the pieces

by Jon Tingley

It seems the Democrats are getting back on track after announcing Obama as their nominee.  It was just announced that former Obama rival Hilary Clinton will be joining him on the campaign trail in an attempt to reunite the party.  This comes at a critical time for Obama as he tries to underscore his decision to deny public funding for his campaign, a move that has sparked intense criticism of his credibility from both sides.

The question I have is: will the Clintons actually support Obama?

The press will be paying very close attention to Mrs. Clinton on Thursday and Friday when she meets with Obama and her top contributors to raise money for the Democratic bid.  So far, it seems she has gracefully stepped to the side to allow Obama to shine, but everyone will be watching to see if she can keep up the act.  Obama has been trying to do his part to mend their tumultuous relationship, even going so far as to scold his supporters in Detroit for booing Senator Clinton, saying, “Senator Clinton is one of the finest public servants we have in American life today.”

Only time will tell if the former contenders can patch things up with their supporters in time to succeed in November; maybe that’s why Obama is taking the extra cash.

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2008 Primaries, Messaging, Views on News • June 19th, 2008

Feingold still hearts McCain

by Chris Lato

He’s backing off considerably, and falling into line like a good Democrat, but it’s clear Russ Feingold still thinks John McCain is a force to be reckoned with this fall.

This has to be giving Democrats heartburn. It wouldn’t be the first time Wisconsin’s senator has said things that get the DNC’s teeth gnashing, but in a charged and competitive election year, Feingold’s continued words of praise for McCain as a colleague and candidate have to sting. They should also be admired by any reasonable person who’s not on the extreme fringes of either party – which represents a good chunk of Wisconsin voters.

Feingold’s intelligence and political instincts deserve respect. That said, his comments about McCain should give pause to those who think Barack Obama is simply going to have his way with McCain this November. It’s just not shaping up to be that easy, and Feingold can read the tea leaves as well as anyone.

McCain and Feingold have both positioned themselves as ‘mavericks,’ but while they can articulate the decisions and stances they take in a well-reasoned manner, they are also political animals who understand when they can take a calculated risk by stepping away from their parties.

McCain is paying the price for that this year, however. His already strained relationship with conservatives means they have been slow to embrace him. At the same time, as Feingold understands, the current political climate favors someone like McCain, who holds appeal beyond the established base. It’s a tricky balance McCain has to strike, but it can be done. Beating the ‘McSame’ drumbeat is disingenuous and won’t fly – and Feingold has to know that.

The connection between McCain and Feingold is striking. It’s a combination of political savvy and native intelligence that makes them spiritual blood-brothers. They are both very good at navigating shark-infested waters.

It must be tough being a communications manager for either one – the endless challenges and headaches would be enough to write a book. But the way McCain and Feingold operate, on policy and in public, works for them. John McCain and Russ Feingold are their own best PR managers.

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Messaging, public relations • June 13th, 2008

“Aldi” it takes is 3 minutes or less … to damage reputation

by Erika Duelge

The other day a client asked, “How much damage could I do in three minutes.” To which I replied, “a lot.” I know three minutes sounds like a short amount of time, but when I read an article on BrookfieldNOW’s Website about how the town of Brookfield rejected Aldi’s attempts at setting up shop in Bluemound Plaza, my response was validated.

The headline read, “Officials say they’re concerned about the grocer’s reputation and the type of customers the store would attract to the community.” The negative slant to this message creates potential for numerous consequences. Carefully selecting words and messages that communicate one’s position in positive terms can go a long way to avoiding or at least lessening the fallout.

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Messaging, Views on News, public relations • June 9th, 2008

MMSD dodges feces fiasco?

by Karl Robe

Listening to talk radio this afternoon, I found the lack of hostility toward the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District particularly interesting. Granted, reports of how much raw sewage dumps into Lake Michigan typically hit the airwaves days after storm events. But Jeff Wagner, host of AM620’s Department of Justice, has already declared a temporary truce on MMSD for what certainly will total large amounts of sewage being dumped as a result of our recent deluge of rain.

“The record rainfall for the entire month of June for the state is like 9.5 inches,” Wagner said, noting we received that much in the last few days. “Others may criticize as these reports are released, but there will be no criticism from this corner, ‘The Department of Justice.’” more »

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2008 Primaries, Messaging • June 6th, 2008

The air war begins

by Chris Lato

Wisconsin is about to see a new round of presidential campaign ads, courtesy of John McCain. If you needed a sign that Wisconsin will be a battleground state this year, this is as sure a sign as any – TV ads in June signaling the general election campaign is here in earnest.

It’s a character piece, intended to remind people of McCain’s bona fides on issues related to war. It offers no specifics but sets the tone of seriousness with which McCain would presumably approach Iraq, while subtly distancing him from the cavalier ‘cowboy’ image President Bush’s opponents have tagged our current president with. Iraq, the word and the war, is never mentioned directly in the spot.

The unmistakable undercurrent: John McCain is seasoned and tested by experiences the vast majority of us are lucky we will never have to face…and Barack Obama is not.

We’ll see the messages Obama chooses to focus on. The economy? The war? Fuel prices? There are plenty of issues on the table in this summer of discontent.

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2008 Primaries, Leadership, Messaging, Views on News • June 5th, 2008

Well, duh

by Chris Lato

Not to beat a dead horse, but if you needed more evidence that Barack Obama doesn’t want Hillary Clinton as his VP, here you go.

I have said before that an Obama-Clinton ticket would be awfully tough to beat – but that it isn’t going to happen for a variety of reasons.

It’s not just the Clinton finances, though – it’s also the years of Clinton baggage and Obama’s fairly obvious desire to be his own leader and not have the Clintons looking over his shoulder and potentially starting slash-and-burn campaigns when they don’t like how President Obama is handling things.

More importantly, consider the message sent if Sen. Obama were to select Sen. Clinton. The Clintons represent the past – Obama says he’s looking to the future. Wouldn’t that be something of a contradiction, going back to the bad old days of divisiveness and scandal, to have the Clintons back in the White House? I think Team Obama is smart enough to know that. Luckily, Team Obama has all sorts of reasons to smack down talk of a ‘dream ticket.’

There’s also the bitterness – the divide within the Democratic Party that one senses will be extremely difficult to repair. Robert Novak writes of the sense among Democrat women that 2008 was their time to shine – and that they were denied yet again. Race and gender disputes are bubbling under the surface. It threatens to erupt in outright ugliness.

It is an open question whether the party can heal itself in time to rally ‘round Obama in November. Much like John McCain has to woo conservatives back to the tent, Obama now has to figure out how to navigate the minefield of simultaneously embracing Clinton, distancing himself from the VP talk, and uniting a fiercely divided Democratic Party.

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Leadership, Messaging, Views on News • June 4th, 2008

Today’s bad news is tomorrow’s campaign issue

by Chris Lato

My first thought upon hearing this news: what a devastating loss for Janesville, the GM workers, and the state of Wisconsin as a whole. The impact of this cannot be overstated. Generations of families have worked for GM (including an uncle of mine) and to lose such a vital part of Wisconsin’s economic identity is a serious blow.

My second, more callous thought: the first big campaign issue of the 2010 gubernatorial race has surfaced. And the GM news does not help Gov. Doyle one bit (assuming, of course, that he will actually run for re-election and is not snapped up by the Obama administration).

On matters such as these, perception is everything. Politicians will puff out their chests, talk about the inhumanity of corporate America, how shocked they were by the news, blame Bush and John McSame, and so on.

The problem for Doyle is that this happened on his watch, and leaves him, fairly or not, looking inefficient and helpless to control his state’s economic situation. No amount of ripping GM can hide the perception that this is a devastating loss. No matter how much his administration was involved in working to keep GM viable in Wisconsin, what matters is that GM is on its way out, and may make its final exit in, you guessed it, the election year 2010. The TV ads practically write themselves and they won’t be pretty.

It will also be interesting to watch how the issue of the $10 million commitment plays out. The Doyle administration committed the cash to support GM’s $175 million investment to prep the plant for a new line of big SUVs. More than $9 million of the cash has been paid out, according to the administration.

No doubt trying to get this money back will be a Doyle administration rallying point, and I have no special insight into the terms of that deal and whether Doyle has a leg to stand on. The administration did what it thought was necessary to spur economic development. But again, perception is everything, and the point could be made that this was a risky and short-sighted bit of taxpayer-funded corporate welfare for a plant that seemed to be perpetually on the brink of closure.

The question now is, what can Doyle do to put some lipstick on this pig? 2010 is a long ways off, and a lot can happen before then. GM could be convinced to change its mind or find a way to use the trained Janesville workforce in a different capacity. It remains to be seen how the administration moves to manage the situation, but if they can generate positive news out of this, it had better be big, bold, economically sound and headline-grabbing to counter the barrage of hits the Doyle campaign will surely take over this.

It’s always tough when a company operating in Wisconsin reduces its workforce or closes its doors. But this one is the equivalent of a nuclear blast, and the aftershocks will still be felt two years from now.

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2008 Primaries, Branding Politix, Buttons, Messaging • June 2nd, 2008

Cha-ching!

by Chris Lato

Once the ‘Holy cow! $200 million!’ shock wears off, what does this tell us?

First off, for all the talk about new ways of executing political communication (social media, internet, Facebook, you name it) TV is still king, far and away. If you want to catch a lot of attention and eyeballs, it is still the way to go if you have the dough.

But money isn’t enough. John McCain was outspent roughly three-to-one by Mitt Romney, and look who’s still standing. Sometimes all the marketing money in the world won’t get voters to buy what you’re selling – especially if your message is garbled and you have failed to define yourself, what you stand for and why you are running.

And, what a mind-blowing number for the Democrats. All this over a battle for the nomination that has been great fun to watch, yet has allowed John McCain to run his campaign unscathed by Democrat attacks for months. Admittedly, if the Dem nominee will have this level of support at his disposal, McCain will be pelted with a non-stop barrage of attack ads any time now.

Despite the $46 million spent by the Hillary Clinton campaign, the study points out that in a number of key states Barack Obama still had the airwaves all to himself for a significant period of time – and made his biggest gains for a two-week stretch in February. Pure tactical outmaneuvering, coupled with the means to make some big buys, that helped move the needle in Obama’s direction.

Get ready, Wisconsin – the political airwave war in the Battleground Badger State is about to get underway….

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2008 Primaries, Branding Politix, Messaging • May 29th, 2008

The pros and cons of ‘going negative’

by Chris Lato

Readers of this blog know I don’t agree with the notion of ‘negative’ campaign ads being, well, negative - particularly if they are addressing an opponent’s record. Calling attention to, and criticizing an opponent’s record, whether it be a vote in Congress, a statement to a reporter, or a lack of pertinent experience, it’s all fair game in my view.

That’s why this article from the Harvard Business School intrigued me. The author breaks down the ‘negative’ ads being fired by the Hillary Clinton campaign at Barack Obama and makes a case for why political ads use this tactic while B2B ads typically do not.

One partial quote did jump out at me – referring to “…Obama trying to stay positive and clinging to the moral high ground by staying positive…” Unless you’re an ardent Hillary supporter, Obama is the clear front-runner. He’s running on the ‘moral superiority’ platform – that is, his campaign would have you believe Obama is above petty politics. It’s a new day in America, etc. It sounds almost….Reaganesque.

Everyone’s buying it for now, but will it last? Once this race tightens up, and it will, can Obama resist jumping on the ‘negative’ campaign bandwagon? For example, John McCain has a long, long record of votes in the Senate that will be prime fodder for attacks. And that is fine. McCain should have to defend his record and Obama will undoubtedly begin to take aim, as he should.

And ironically, McCain’s own leadership role on campaign finance ‘reform,’ working in concert with our own Senator Russ Feingold, could be McCain’s undoing. Third party independent spending has grown exponentially thanks to this ‘reform,’ and while McCain will undoubtedly benefit from some of that spending, he will also be the target of the George Soros types who will spend untold millions ripping McCain up and down right up to Election Day.

In other words, Obama could potentially stay largely above the fray while the ‘independent’ groups tear McCain to shreds. And they will.

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WISPUNDITS MEDIA ALERT! Listen to Wisconsin Public Radio tomorrow morning from 8-9 AM to enjoy yours truly discussing “The Week in Review.” And if you feel compelled to call in, make sure to tell ‘em Wispundits sent ya.

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2008 Primaries, Leadership, Messaging • May 27th, 2008

The vast left-wing conspiracy?

by Chris Lato

The Clintons are crying cover-up again – this time, it’s the Democrats and their friends in the media that are working to take them down, not the vast right-wing conspiracy.

There aren’t a lot of ways that Hillary Clinton could actually become the nominee at this point. But for all his missteps on the campaign trail this year, Bill Clinton is no dummy and he understands the messages that resonate - the victim card, the underdog pose, and the notion of the party bosses denying a voice to the disenfranchised voters. It is one last desperate swing for the fences.

Any of this ringing a bell? It’s the same thing Democrats accused Republicans of doing in 2000 in Florida, in 2004 in Ohio, and in 2008 in goodness-knows-where. It is the same thing that Wisconsin Republicans have been dealing with for years in trying to require a photo ID when voting. That perfectly reasonable requirement is just common sense, and is supported by a clear majority of Wisconsin voters (including – horrors! – a fair number of Democrats). But Wisconsin Democrats, including our governor, have blocked it at every turn. It disenfranchises voters, opponents claim.

Watch the video that comes with the CNN story I linked to up top. Clinton takes a dig at the Florida situation – 2000 vs. 2008 - that will become a rallying cry as this thing plays itself out.

The Clintons are on the ropes, but they know how to play the game and keep on punching until they officially throw in the towel. Needless to say, the leaders of the Democratic Party have their work cut out for them.

From a messaging perspective, the Clintons also understand their last, best hope is to appeal to the sense of disenfranchisement and victimhood. And this time, considering all the ludicrous complications built into the system of selecting a Democrat nominee for president, the Clintons have a point.

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