Karl Rove hands out some advice to Sen. McCain in his column today.  It's all worth a read, of course, but I liked this:

In the coming weeks, he needs to lay out a bold domestic reform program. He gave a taste on energy, but with a few missteps. He should appear in front of manufacturing plants where jobs depend on affordable energy, small businesses affected by fuel prices, and farms hurt by skyrocketing fertilizer costs -- and not in front of oil rigs. He needs to describe the consequences of specific domestic policy decisions. He must explain how his proposals on energy, health care, jobs and education will make a difference for ordinary families.

While at CPAC in 2007, I attended one of the seminars on grassroots messaging and communications.  I was interning in the press shop of Americans for Tax Reform at the time, and had never studied anything related to that task, so it was probably a good move on the Communications Director's part.

The host said that one of the areas where Democrats consistently outperform the GOP (and conservatives) with regards to messaging is the ability to make issues personal to voters.  I think that the energy debate has lit a fire under the GOP in this area, but Rove's advice here is still legit.  To the general public, an oil rig says "He's doing this to help the oil companies."  Appearing in front of a small trucking company that's been forced out of business do to the high fuel prices sends a much more effective message to voters, especially those who may still be on the fence.

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 01:05 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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