Word: strategist
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...place when more than 230,000 people ultimately participated. The Obama campaign "has enthusiasm, they have a lot of people, they have money to finance in a serious way ground operations, and they have the resources in terms of good lists at their disposal," says Harold Ickes, a Democratic strategist and former top adviser to Hillary Clinton. "If the McCain people think that that's not serious, they're in for a big surprise. They should not pooh-pooh the ground game that Obama is mounting; it's a formidable one. I don't think in my experience in Democratic...
...surprisingly, the Obama campaign takes issue with that assessment. Over Labor Day weekend, while waiting for Obama to finish an event, David Axelrod, the nominee's top strategist, noted that their strategy is broader than McCain's and therefore requires a lot more leg work, but that it has more of a potential payoff. "We're going into Nov. 4 with many different scenarios to get to 270 electoral votes," he says, squinting at airplanes buzzing overhead, part of Cleveland's annual air show. "I think their path is very, very narrow, as is their thinking...
...Democratic pollster Celinda Lake calls them "Wal-Mart moms" and "Wal-Mart grandmas" and says they are not so much undecided as conflicted in making their choice this year. Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster who served as chief strategist of Hillary Clinton's campaign in its final days, agrees. "Frankly, it's because they are conflicted on Obama," he says. "They'd like to vote for a Democrat, but they're not sure Obama is the one." The Democratic nominee has not yet made the sale with these female voters, in part because they have yet to be convinced...
...With his choice of Palin, McCain "definitely caught their attention," Lake adds. But whether this is merely a blip or a real trend has yet to be determined. Obama strategist Anita Dunn predicts there will be a "settling effect" in the polls as the Democratic campaign brings more scrutiny to Palin's record - drawing attention, for instance, to the fact that she once actively supported the infamous "bridge to nowhere" earmark that she now claims to have turned down. At a news conference Tuesday morning in Riverside, Ohio, Obama himself dismissed the latest polling numbers and predicted that women...
...long-standing "enthusiasm gap" - the glaring difference between the intensity of support for McCain compared with support for Obama - with the Republican base. But some Republicans worry that neither play will lift McCain to victory in November. "They're getting the base excited, that's obvious," says a GOP strategist not affiliated with the campaign. "But these are tactics that get you to 45%. I don't see their strategy to get McCain to 50%. And [by attacking the media] they're doing harm to McCain's brand." Said another GOP consultant attending the convention festivities in St. Paul: "Attack...