Tips for Obama: Ignore Palin, Dis McCain

Matt Cooper report from St. Paul: As marketing and branding exercises go, Democrats have been caught flatfooted since Barack Obama's acceptance speech last week. (Doesn't it feel like a year ago?)

Getting into an argument about experience with the McCain-Palin ticket seems like a losing battle, especially when Obama cited running a campaign as part of his managerial experience. I think he's right, but it's not a useful argument to get into because it sounds like his experience is solely as a pol. So what can the Obama-Biden team do to fight their G.O.P. counterparts?

Ignore Palin. Dissing the Alaska governor is not helping. She'll either collapse or help the ticket on her own accord, but ultimately the race is about John McCain.

Stop Talking about Bush. The Democratic argument has always been something of a bank shot. You don't like President Bush. McCain is more of the same. Therefore, you shouldn't like McCain. But for voters that's confusing logic. First, McCain ran against Bush in 2000 and has opposed him a number of times. To keep calling him more of the same has intellectual merit—he doesn't want to pursue many if not most of the same policies—but it's a confusing argument and now that Palin's on the ticket, they certainly look different than Bush. Just focus on McCain. Leave Bush out of it.

Take on McCain. They should dis McCain not as more of the same, but as a sellout. He may have stood up to the North Vietnamese, but he's caved to the lobbyists and the right on everything else. Make it a character attack on McCain rather than allow him to be sainted.

Go rural. The Obama campaign has been all about driving up the numbers among suburban, youth, and other constituencies that support the Illinois senator. He needs to start plunging into rural America, not in the hope of winning a majority of rural votes, but with the goal of not losing too badly there. In a state like Ohio, he's way behind successful Democrats like Governor Ted Strickland and Senator Sherrod Brown in rural areas. He needs to plunge in and not cede the small-town vote to McCain-Palin.

Matt Cooper

Get caught up on what happened at the Republican convention in St. Paul with these:
-- McCainomics: The Way of John McCain.
-- A G.O.P. Drilling Machine.
-- Should We Take Economic Advice From Fiorina?
-- Republicans' Bizarre Night
-- Mr. Rove, They're Ready for You in Makeup
-- The G.O.P.s Gov Child.
-- The Republicans Get a Mulligan With Gustav.
-- McCain's Pick of Palin a Game Changer.
-- Drill, Baby, Drill!
-- Where to Eat in the Twin Cities.
-- How to Party Like a Rockstar TV Star With Republicans.

Get a recap of what happened with the Democrats in Denver:
-- The End of the Affair.
-- Obama Gets Down to Business.
-- Are Obama's Donors Tapped Out?
-- Google's Schmidt: "They Have Guns and We Don't"
-- Why Does Everyone Want In on the Act?
-- I'm T. Boone Pickens and This Will Save America.
-- The Election According to Mr. Burns.
-- The Portfolio.com Capital Index.