Campaign 2008

Campaign McCain Round-Up

By J. Wesley ⋅ April 2, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

Though still behind in the money race, McCain is making progress in campaign organization and fundraising. And the polls are encouraging, even with the Wright flap quieting down.

RCP McCain-Obama polling averages:

Nationwide: Tie
Pennsylvania: McCain +2
Florida: McCain +6.8
Ohio: McCain +7

Fundraising
McCain is still lagging in fundraising — pulling in 12 million in Feb. compared to 55 million for Obama. The problem isn’t with small donors, but the elite mega-donors who raised so much for Bush. Between fatigue and annoyance with McCain-Feingold, a lot of them are still sitting out the war. The upside of that is that it would take a shift of relatively few people to really improve McCain’s standing. Thus far, only a quarter of Bush’s “Pioneers” have stepped up. He needs to do more internet fundraising as well. Without money, Obama will be able to define him in the public mind through negative ads. (Although his primary victory shows he knows how to live off the land.)

McCain currently has 7.9 mil on-hand, as opposed to 38.8 for Obama. Ouch.  On the plus side, the RNC has 30 million on hand to help McCain, while the DNC has about 5 mil left to help the survivor of the Obama-Hillary cage match.

Catholic Outreach
Despite the Hagee flap, McCain is doing really well with Catholic voters. Sen. Brownback has put together a team of 100 influential Catholics, and McCain is making strong inroads into this key swing constituency.

Campaign Ads
This is McCain’s new ad — Heroes. It’s sharp, but I’m underwhelmed. I know he’s doing a whole “re-introduction” thing, but he needs to get past biography and into issues.

The GOP Veepstakes:
U.S. News writes that former OMB director Rob Portman’s stock is rising in McCain circles. An anonymous adviser also floated a new name — former Hewlett-Packard boss Carly Fiorina.

Campaign Organization
Marc Ambinder reports that McCain is recruiting heavily from the staffs of his former rivals. This is said to be reducing concerns that he would rely only upon loyalists. Ambinder also explains McCain’s unique campaign structure — 10 regional campaign managers operating semi-autonomously and responsible for a series of states. A central campaign apparatus develops the budget and overall strategy, and then allows the regional directors a free hand in implementation. I like decentralization.

 Further Reading:

Bob Krumm / American Thinker / Hugh Hewitt / Tom Watson / Tech Republican