[Darla]

I was listening yesterday to the radio driving home and the discussion was about the McCain campaign. Not the candidate, not the policies but how the campaign was run. It was interesting because there was some background insight that seemed to run counter to how McCain was portraying it.

I personally thought McCain had a very poorly run campaign. and although this one is not in the books yet and barring some miraculous development McCain probably won't be president.

So the question is Where did the McCain campaign go wrong? I mean when did you hear something that they were doing and you said to yourself that's it they lost it right there?

I started putting together a list. Here's my first cut. Looking for suggestions.

• Basically taking a lot of time off from campaigning after sewing up the Republican nomination so early.
• Selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate.
• Getting on this late "Joe the PLumber" kick
• Not sticking to a theme, and changing them on a weekly basis. This weeks its We're all Mavericks and now its Joe the Plumber.
• Dissing David Letterman and then doing the Katie Couric interview.
• Suspending his campaign so he can single handedly fix the economy.
• Trying to portray Obama as a celebrity
• Trying too hard to create this link of Obama to William Ayers. Going a lot more negative in the advertising.
• Buddying up early with GW Bush to try and get his support from that part of his party.
• It was never any one thing, there was just too much baggage from the previous administration

[Adrienne]

I think his buddying up with Bush just kinda killed it. Nobody wants to hear how much you admire a president everyone else considers a joke.

[RoxRae]

Unfortunately I think he started going downhill when he chose Sarah Palin as a running mate. At first, everyone was thrilled, but then once she opened her mouth, I think most people got scared to death. Bless her heart, I think she is probably a very intelligent lady and she's gorgeous to boot, but I just don't know if I have confidence in her as a possible president. She doesn't seem to really have a handle on things and I feel bad for her and for her family, but I really do think that was a poor choice on McCain's part. I just have to hope and pray that whoever gets elected doesn't run this country right into the ground both economically and in the world's view.... kwim?

[StereoXGirl]

The three main things for me have been that:

1. He doesn't even seem like he's trying to win an election. His campaign has seemed kind of half-@$$ed. lol.
2. Getting too negative. I was really surprised by this, because he didn't seem interested in focusing on the negative before the campaign...
3. Buddying up with Bush and the far right-wingers early on to get the Republican nod. That's just not who he is.

I personally disagree with some of your points, though. lol. I like Sarah Palin.

And while McCain has totally overdone the whole "Joe the Plumber" thing, there are a lot of good points that this brings up. Like Obama's support of the redistribution of wealth (i.e. Socialism).

And with all the celebrities buddying up to Obama and references by his followers to him being a "rock star", calling him a "celebrity" is not even a stretch...it may be an understatement.

[Adrienne]

The three main things for me have been that:

1. He doesn't even seem like he's trying to win an election. His campaign has seemed kind of half-@$$ed. lol.
2. Getting too negative. I was really surprised by this, because he didn't seem interested in focusing on the negative before the campaign...
3. Buddying up with Bush and the far right-wingers early on to get the Republican nod. That's just not who he is.

This are my top three reasons as well. During his whole campaign I've wondered if he even truly cares. I vote for the ideas, not for the people and imo if he barely cares about his campaign it makes me wonder how much he actually cares about "us."

[Aprill]

Two things IMO:

1. The selection of Palin
2. Making his campaign all about Obama, being negative and nothing about the issues at hand. He spent more time preaching about Obama and running a hate campaign than he did getting to the matter at hand

[shannonsilk]

It has been hard to know what Mc Cain is really about. He turned his back on his Maverick policies to win the nomination. He has been on all sides of issues.
But primarily, In most elections, I believe most people are voting against the other guy. They aren't that crazy about the guy (and it's always a guy) they do vote for.
This time I have heard people say they are voting for Obama,nothing to do with Mc.
McCain's big problem is he is just running against someone people really like. Bob Dole ran into the same thing in 1996. As did whoever ran against Reagan in 1984.

[reesesilverstar]

Two things IMO:

1. The selection of Palin
2. Making his campaign all about Obama, being negative and nothing about the issues at hand. He spent more time preaching about Obama and running a hate campaign than he did getting to the matter at hand

And there you have it...

[Johnnie]

In a way I agree with RoxRae when he chose Sarah Palin it was pretty neat 'til she opened her mouth. This is what threw me off.....

and

[amber_nation]

I'm sure there are a lot of things he could have done different but one of them would be to not run a negative campaign. I think most people are sick of that kind of thing.

[Adrienne]

[quote=jmgjmg623;1505782]In a way I agree with RoxRae when he chose Sarah Palin it was pretty neat 'til she opened her mouth. This is what threw me off.....{bunch of YouTube videos here}


Was she speaking at a church here?

[Johnnie]

Was she speaking at a church here?

Wasilla Assembly of God Church

[nanzmck]

The "moderate McCain" seems to be his true self, and it was something that people really liked about him. Once that was gone, and all policies shifted fast to the far right (thx Sarah Palin) his message got lost.
The John McCain of 8 years ago would have made a great president.
Sarah Palin took the Republican party down, and hard.

[Dragonfly]

1. Not separating himself with Bush
2. Not campaigning more after he secured the Republican nomination.
3. The fiasco that is Palin

[Darla]

some really good comments

[jessiej78]

I pretty much agree with everything said here already. Why can McCain not just focus on the issues, and what HE can do for the country instead of how TERRIBLE Barack supposedly is??? This aspect of his campaign is very irritating...even going as far as calling Obama a socialist?? Oooookaayy...gimmee a break.

[Darla]

That last comment about being a socialist is hard to hang on anyone these days. How can anyone from the Republican party claim that when we look at the scope of what we had to do to bail out the banks and Wall St? If that isn't socialism I don't know what is. Notice they haven't been playing that up here, but in the UK they are referring to everyone as Comrade.

There was some discussion I heard that the acceptance of all this socialism will ultimately soften acceptance of any plan to change Health Care. The thinking is that if you didn't mind it with regard to Banks (!) it won't be a problem getting everyone covered.

[Darla]

to close the book on McCain I think if he exhibited some of his sensitivity he espoused in his concession speech he might have done better. Maybe politicians will realize that the negativity of these campaigns really turns people off.

[Aprill]

I agree, that was a very nice speech by McCain...wish every speech was like that from him

[nanzmck]

Yeah, I think McCain showed his true self tonight ~ he really is a great man.