Anyone who has been in a presidential campaign knows that everyone has advice for how you can do better. \u00a0Right now everyone is telling Mitt Romney: You need to do a better job of connecting. \u00a0Not me. \u00a0Yes, I have advice \u2013 just not that advice.<\/p>\n
The campaign is in its battle of the agendas phase. \u00a0The two sides are fighting over whose definition of the key issues before the nation will dominate discussion in October and early November.<\/p>\n
You would think that with an economy stagnated at a disturbingly low level, unprecedented national debt that our top military man has said itself is a threat to our security, net-job-killing federal spending and troubles around the globe, both sides would be agreed on the serious questions facing us.<\/p>\n
Instead the president has invented one war after another that he contends Mitt Romney is waging on the rest of us: wars on women, on the middle class, even on puppies, until it turned out that the president has eaten puppies.<\/p>\n
By law, candidates must approve every message their apparatus puts out. \u00a0If you had any doubts about how nice a guy Mr. Obama is, look at the way his campaign has stuck to the angry (bordering on hate-filled) message of businessman Romney shipping jobs overseas long after it has been revealed the former governor did no such thing. \u00a0In his rise to prominence, Mr. Obama was fortunate that dirt emerged on several strong opponents, who then became unviable. The persistence of his campaign in trying to manufacture dirt on Mr. Romney leaves me, at least, wondering if those earlier revelations were the result of luck alone.<\/p>\n
The Romney campaign has been focused and disciplined in its response, answering through surrogates when appropriate (particularly when the Democrats have misrepresented the governor\u2019s economic achievements in Massachusetts) but not getting distracted from the president\u2019s failed economic performance.<\/p>\n
The president has plenty of money, having reportedly conducted by now more political fundraisers than his four immediate predecessors combined. \u00a0And yet considering the intensity of Team Obama\u2019s attacks, plenty of money looks like plenty of nothing. \u00a0Yes, the polls have moved a little. \u00a0But by and large, despite the full frontal assault, in the major swing states, the Real Clear Politics average of polls puts Mr. Romney substantially ahead of where he was at the toughest points in March, April and May. \u00a0In all cases, the spread between the candidates is within polling\u2019s margin of error.<\/p>\n
So what is my advice to the Romney entourage?<\/p>\n
First, pay more attention to pictures. \u00a0The best press event the Romney people have staged in the last sixty days was the surprise visit to Solyndra headquarters. \u00a0The picture of the lavish facility fit perfectly with the candidate\u2019s remarks, a serendipity typical of Ronald Reagan\u2019s campaigns. \u00a0Too often, though, Team Romney\u2019s stage settings borrow more from George W. Bush, depending on words pasted to a banner or stuck to a podium (\u201cMore Jobs. Less Debt. Smaller Government.\u201d) to tell their tale. The Reagan method says more and excites emotions better than the Bush one. \u00a0It connects. \u00a0Go with Reagan.<\/p>\n
Second, pay more attention to soundbites. \u00a0Governor Romney\u2019s speeches are well crafted, intelligently argued and draw a clear distinction between his vision and the president\u2019s. \u00a0\u00a0His speechwriters are very good. \u00a0There is a need, though, to work harder on defining phrases.<\/p>\n
As cable television has come to dominate coverage and millions may see large portions of even minor stump appearances, campaigns have de-emphasized the catchy, memorable formulations that were the staples of the old network evening news broadcasts. The Romney campaign should bring back the soundbite. \u00a0Mostly this requires asking the question for each event, \u201cWhat phrase or sentence do we want people taking away with them?\u201d<\/p>\n
Third, pay more attention to merchandizing the message. Brief the media in greater detail before and after each press event — fact sheets, experts available on the press bus, that sort of thing. \u00a0In other words, tell them what you are going to tell them, followed with telling them what you told them \u2013 and providing the kind of background that gives depth and detail to a story.<\/p>\n
Yes, I know friends will still tell Governor Romney that he needs to connect more \u2013 some magical transformation of personality and delivery. \u00a0I don\u2019t buy it. \u00a0He is who he is. \u00a0He\u2019s done very well with that over the years, including in the least hospitable state for a Republican in the nation. \u00a0The challenge is easier. \u00a0It is just a matter of doing it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Anyone who has been in a presidential campaign knows that everyone has advice for how you can do better. \u00a0Right now everyone is telling Mitt Romney: You need to do a better job of connecting. \u00a0Not me. \u00a0Yes, I have advice \u2013 just not that advice. The campaign is in its battle of the agendas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-1276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politicalcommentary-campaign-2012","tag-hugh-hewitt"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1276"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1389,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1276\/revisions\/1389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}