Republicans are so much better at campaigning because they spend their effort defining their opponent, not themselves, and they do it with strict message discipline.
I wish Obama hadn't wasted millions of dollars in August showing ads with a picture of potatoes that created no contrast between him and McCain, but he seems to have learned his lesson. The new ads are much better.
But now I'm concerned about the talk that Obama needs to "fight back" -- that is exactly wrong. He needs to take the fight to McCain. He has to put McCain on defense, explaining the latest media storm.
There is a great opportunity now to destroy McCain's "straight talk" brand and to turn him into a the lyingest liar who ever ran for president. Dems need to seize the moment.
The republican "attack, attack, attack" strategy has been on display of late.
Obama finds a great quote of McCain supporting abolishing the department of education. McCain responds not by explaining himself, but by accusing Obama of supporting sex ed for 5 year olds. Rather than sticking to the education message - McCain wants to abolish the Department of Education and cut education spending -- Obama spends his time defending a bogus charge.
The Sarah Palin is a liar meme starts to develop in the MSM because of the Bridge to Nowhere line, so McCain sends out republican women to push the lipstick on a pig story. Lots of explanation by dems in response, but few continued to stick it to Palin about lying.
All of these attacks together have been effective in their own way, but they have created an opportunity for Obama because they are so unabashedly false. McCain's persona -- Mr. Straight Talk -- hangs by a thread.
We need message discipline from all sources that drive home the point that Krugman is making in the NYTimes. McCain is running a dishonest campaign. "This is not a good man," to borrow the words of Lynne Cheney.
Obama's actually starting to draw some blood on this already, and the key now is not to let go of it. Drive it home again, and again, until McCain starts getting fact checked like Gore in 2000, and every minor mistake in the debate becomes another lie. McCain plays lose with the facts, so there will be a half dozen misstatements by him in the debate at the least.