The Issue-Free Campaign

The McCain campaign has controlled the narrative of the Presidential race this week with a blizzard of false accusations that succeed as a distraction from McCain's weakness--his goofy policy proposals. The Obama campaign is responding defensively and allowing them to get away with it. So says Theda Skocpol in a post on TalkingPointsMemo.com.

Bottom line: the McCain campaign has a diabolically clever strategy for keeping the focus off the economy and off the scary Bush-McCain economic notions for as long as possible. And give it to them, they are doing brilliantly well. With low budget ads magnified by the media, they are controlling the narrative. It does not matter at all that the TIMES and POST say they are lying days later -- the lies have already served their purpose. And the Brittany-Paris ad cannot be rebutted anyway. Today, it has taken the focus off Obama's town meetings on the economy, which were themselves giving rise to tepid headlines ("Obama refines ideas on the economy'' YAWN.)

This is indeed the real McCain -- and he needs to be put back on his heels...That could be done with some hard-hitting ads about lies in his campaign. But I think it would be much better to use funny contrast ads -- "is this the real McCain?" -- featuring "Harry and Louise" type kitchen table people talking about McCain's terrible economic and domestic policy ideas and what they would do to real people. Forget McCain has gimmicks and Obama is serious, the approach of the energy response ad. Make McCain and his advisors and his extreme nostrums the issue -- and make them the risky threat. Force McCain to start explaining his own risky and dumb ideas -- but do it with as much advertising innovation as possible, coordinated with Obama words and surrogate attacks.

UPDATE: Eugene Robinson suggests something similar in today's column in The Washington Post.