The recent debate about John McCain's houses is really gaining traction in the MSM and beyond. What is clear is that Barack Obama can use this to reinforce the idea that it's John McCain, not he, who is the elitist and out of touch with the "average" American. Now, with the Republicans hitting back with the Rezko nonsense, they've opened a third front on this battle and all three fronts are primed for easy tactical and (ultimately) strategic advantage of the Democrats, 529's and the Obama campaign. Follow me below the flip for how this can be the "supermarket scanner" episode of the 2008 election...
At this point, we all know most -- if not all the details about this story and I'm not going repeat them and just focus on the three angles of attack.
- The economy: John McCain is already admitted he's not an expert on the economy:
Add to this -- Phil "you whiners" Gramm has re-emerged as an economic advisor to the McCain campaign.
http://thinkprogress.org/...
Layered on top of this is the infamous $5 million/yr income statement from Saddleback.
Which accounts for less than 1/10 of 1% of US households
http://www.latimes.com/...
What needs to be done is to reinforce the idea that John McCain's definition of middle-class and rich are totally out of whack with the reality on the ground.
So far, the Obama campaign has been hitting this point hard -- and it's the easiest one to make, as it's so obvious with the $5 million and 7 (or 8, or more?) homes. This is the easiest economic populist argument to make and is going well so far. What I'd love to see is an ad linking the McCain households and the private jet and pointing out the real elitist (take this from the JedReport and build on it...)
http://www.jedreport.com/...
- McCain's memory/understanding: This is superficially similar to the first point, but is more focused on the fact that McCain, in addition to not understanding what the income for middle-class and rich people are, has made some very serious gaffes on numerous topics in the past.
With the question "how many houses?" he had to refer it to his staff which speaks to whether he can recall the number. Combine this with the gaffes on which countries border each other:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
and which country Putin runs:
and sunni and shia:
All of these and more speak to a man who may be beyond his prime intellectually (although that may be overstating a man who finished in the bottom 1% of his graduating class).
This issue is obviously much more dicey than the first, and should be left to the 529's and blogosphere. To have a rep of the Obama campaign or even a DNC rep pointing out that McCain is getting "senile" would be tough to defend, but this is where an independent group could have a field day and the campaign and DNC could hand-wring and decry (similar to the Swift Boat nonsense, but this time fact-based...)
- The "Crook" factor: Recently, the McCain campaign has brought up Rezko and attempted to tie Obama to this felon. While the link is tenuous and unfortunate, we all know that McCain was much more closely linked to a more prominent felon.
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/...
It may be time to bring up Charlie Keating and the whole S&L scandal. One way to do this without looking too much like a tit-for-tat would be to stress the lack of regulations on S&L's in the 80's and the collapses with the current banking deregulation (led by Gramm) and the current financial crisis.
This one is a bit long in the tooth and McCain's claimed that he's reformed, but with his campaign trying to link Obama with Rezko, it should be fair game. If played well, it could also reinforce the "politics as usual" of the McCain campaign. This could be possible (if done with a deft touch) by the DNC or (with a sledgehammer) by a 529.
If these angles are all played well, it provides a great opportunity for Obama to successfully redefine McCain and tarnish the "maverick" label.