Written by By Sam Youngman | Posted: 02/19/08 06:06 PM [ET]
With Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) busy fighting one another for their party’s nomination, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has ramped up its role as attack dog against the presumptive GOP rival, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).
With Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) busy fighting one another for their party’s nomination, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has ramped up its role as attack dog against the presumptive GOP rival, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).
The DNC’s stepped-up effort to go after McCain is natural for the party, officials say, particularly given the nature of this year’s contest.
Despite former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s continued campaigning, the GOP field has cleared, while Obama and Clinton remain locked in a tight competition for their party’s nod with no end in sight.
This can be a plus for the DNC.
“It’s nice because there’s a clear target,” said Stacie Paxton, a DNC spokeswoman. “John McCain will not be getting a free ride.”
DNC officials on Tuesday arranged a conference call with reporters in which Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Chris Redfern, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, criticized McCain’s record on the economy and how it will play in the Buckeye State.
DNC officials said this is just the start of an increasingly intense effort to define the presumptive Republican nominee as advocating the same policies as President Bush on issues from Iraq and immigration to earmarks even as the McCain campaign shifts from primary to general election mode. Democrats also hope to portray a McCain presidency as bad for the economy, which polls show is an issue increasingly important to voters.
By mid-afternoon Tuesday, the DNC had sent out three press releases to reporters criticizing McCain, not including the one advertising the morning conference call.
A quick visit to the DNC’s website reveals the central theme of the early attempts to define the Arizona senator: “McCain wins nomination — fights for a third Bush term.”
We’re going to be tying him to George Bush’s failed policies every step of the way,” Paxton said.
The DNC’s efforts are no different that those of the Republican National Committee (RNC), where new press secretary Alex Conant has been packing reporters’ inboxes with releases about both Obama and Clinton.
For the DNC, however, the luxury lies in the single target.
“It’s never too early to start defining your opponent,” Jamal Simmons, a Democratic strategist, said. Simmons, a longtime Democratic communications operative, said that until the party has a nominee, their primary role is to “direct attention to their opponent’s record.”
Because Obama and Clinton are still intensely battling each other, the DNC “is incredibly important” because it can go on the offense against McCain, Simmons said.
The DNC is coordinating some of its approach with the two Democratic campaigns, and is laying the groundwork and infrastructure in place for the eventual nominee, Paxton said.
The McCain campaign said it is hardly surprised by the DNC’s new vigor in the way it is going after the senator.
“Obviously they’re going to attack John McCain. We expect that,” Crystal Benton, a McCain spokeswoman, said. “He’s the Democrats’ worst nightmare for the general election in 2008.”
Benton said McCain’s strengths with moderate and independent voters, combined with his ability to campaign in states that are usually lost causes for Republican candidates, makes him uniquely dangerous for Democrats.
For its part, the DNC says it is only getting started in circulating research it started looking for well over a year ago, when McCain was the front-runner for the first time.
During Tuesday morning’s conference call, Brown repeatedly returned to the theme that McCain would be bad for the economy and would continue Bush’s policies. He and Redfern both hit McCain for acknowledging that he lacks a command of economic issues, an attack previously used by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the closing days of his failed campaign for the GOP nomination.
The DNC used the Ohio figures because McCain plans to give his Wisconsin victory speech from Columbus, Ohio, Redfern said.
Paxton said the committee has been coordinating extensively with the state parties, and every time McCain pays a visit to a state, local officials are ready to reach out to reporters to offer criticism.
The DNC has started e-mailing reporters what it is calling its Daily McCain Myth. For example, Tuesday’s myth went out under the heading: “Today’s McCain Myth: John McCain stood up to Rumsfeld’s failed Iraq strategy.”
The e-mail tries to make the case that McCain was never actually in favor of firing former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
All of this, Paxton said, comes down to proving to moderates and independents — two blocs thought to be critical to any success McCain might have in the fall — that McCain is not really a “maverick,” but instead is loyal to a very unpopular president.
“He’s in a tough spot right now,” Paxton said of McCain. “He’s pandering to the right wing of his party and compromising his own principles along the way.
“Once [independents and moderates] find out more about his record, there’s going to be a lot that they don’t like.”
And in some instances, Democrats are already targeting the Arizona senator’s potential running mates.
In Minnesota, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party has been actively targeting Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R), a loyal McCain surrogate and a constant on short-lists of potential running mates for the senator.
State party officials could not be reached for comment, but Paxton acknowledged that she doesn’t “think it’s a coincidence.”
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