{"id":61,"date":"2008-10-16T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2008-10-16T09:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/2008\/10\/obamas-rovian-strategy.html"},"modified":"2008-10-16T09:00:36","modified_gmt":"2008-10-16T09:00:36","slug":"obamas-rovian-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2008\/10\/obamas-rovian-strategy.html","title":{"rendered":"Obama’s Rovian strategy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is the Obama campaign pursuing a Karl-Rove-inspired campaign strategy? This piece at the Christian Science Monitor<\/a> argues yes, because Obama has opened campaign offices in Michigan college towns:<\/p>\n

\n

What does an office in this extremely left-leaning college town – as well as those in other “Campus and Careers<\/a>” communities – have to do with the well-known Bush aide? Plenty.<\/p>\n

In 2000 and particularly 2004, Bush won the White House by bringing
\nout the Republican base – driving up votes from reliably Republican
\nareas.<\/p>\n

Going into the 2008 race, most thought “the base” strategy was over.
\nBush’s low approval numbers meant that the Republican nominee, whoever
\nhe was, would have to run more to the center to pick up moderate voters
\nwho had turned against the president.<\/p>\n

But on the other side of the ideological street, the Democrats are
\nnot in such a bind, and the Obama campaign knows it. Thus, even as the
\nIllinois senator plays to the middle (and the middle class) in speeches
\nand proposals, he is devoting more effort to bringing out his base. And
\nif this town is any kind of example, it’s working.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Playing a GOTV strategy is hardly a Rovian innovation, however. The
\nreason there are campaign offices in university towns in Michigan is
\nbecause MI is (was) a swing state, and therefore every vote counts, since the candidate who wins the plurality of votes statewide will get all its electoral votes. This is campaign strategy 101, not some rare Rovian innovation. <\/p>\n

A true Rovian strategy would be to atttack your opponents’
\nstrengths, the classic example being how the Republicans and the Swift Boat veteran group went after John Kerry for his
\nmilitary record and making light of his service and purple heart.
\nIn the present campaign, McCain tried this Rovian approach with his short-lived ad series poking fun at Obama’s
\ncelebrity. However, for the most part, McCain has focused on Obama’s perceived and alleged weaknesses (inexperience, character, etc) rather than strengths.<\/p>\n

Obama hasn’t really followed the Rove game plan either, focusing more on critiquing McCain’s policies and extolling his own biography. McCain’s perceived strength is primarily his foreign policy judgement, and Obama has critiqued him on that score, pointing out that McCain’s support of the Iraq war was a diversion from the true terror threat in Afghanistan. This is more of discussion of policy differences, however, than an outright attack in Rovian fashion. If anything, McCain’s supposed advantage on foreign policy was undermined more by the fact that Obama shared the debate stage with him and was able to discuss it in articulate and knowledgeable fashion, holding his own. If Obama were truly outmatched, it would have been obvious. In one sense, McCain Roved himself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is the Obama campaign pursuing a Karl-Rove-inspired campaign strategy? 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City of Brass is his weblog, which was founded in 2002 under the name UNMEDIA. He is a co-founder of the annual Brass Crescent Awards. The name City of Brass refers to the Story of the City of Brass in the Thousand and One Nights, and the poem by Rudyard Kipling of the same name: Here was a people whom, after their works, thou shalt see wept over for their lost dominion; And in this palace is the last information respecting lords collected in the dust. -- Thousand and One Nights, Story of the City of Brass IN A land that the sand overlays, the ways to her gates are untrod, A multitude ended their days whose fates were made splendid by God, Till they grew drunk and were smitten with madness and went to their fall, And of these is a story written: but Allah Alone knoweth all! -- Rudyard Kipling, The City of Brass (1909)"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}