Matt Watson is the opinion editor at The Reflector. He can be contacted at [email protected]. While many people have probably already broken their diet and lifestyle resolutions, there are still a few things they can count on this year: bickering, cheap shots and commercials.
As the 2008 primaries unfold, candidates are becoming more calloused and will continue to tweak their messages and their tactics depending on how well they are received. They will do whatever it takes to persuade a particular state. For example, see Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) appealing to voters in Michigan by saying, “This is where I was born and raised. My mom and dad are buried here.”
In essence, candidates have to sell themselves to America. But some candidates get so involved in this process that their own stance and credibility grow weak as a result of a confrontational style of campaigning.
This is most apparent in the Republican race, where some of the most hardline contenders are starting to have less favor among voters.
Two such candidates are Romney, who currently has the lead, and Fred Thompson, who is trailing considerably behind.
Romney has repeatedly attempted to place a negative spotlight on Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Mike Huckabee for their often-moderate approaches to issues such as immigration, torture and taxes.
Thompson, who says he is the only true conservative in the race, has recently incorporated as his central strategy an aggressive attack on “liberals” such as Huckabee, McCain and Rudy Giuliani.
According to a CNN report, some of Thompson’s harshest campaign press releases have been titled “Yet Another Romney Flip-flop” and “Huckabee: Stick by Your Words (if You Can Remember Them).”
Considering the softer tone that other candidates have chosen to take, it doesn’t appear such negative campaign strategies will sell easily to voters.
Furthermore, what Romney and especially Thompson are failing to recognize is that many people are tired of the status quo reached by the Bush administration.
Romney says he will change Washington, but his speeches do not really convey how he is different from any other Republican.
Candidates like McCain have a good chance of scoring well with conservatives who don’t want a new president who will continue to undermine the Constitution, although all of the Republicans (save Ron Paul) certainly are at a disadvantage due to their stances on the unpopular Iraq war.
In that regard, one has to respect McCain’s effort from the beginning to keep Iraq one of the focuses of his campaign, whether he is wrong or not. Despite what some predictors said last year, he has fared well. I think this is due in part to McCain’s concentration on the issues instead of himself.
Often, presidential campaigns center around who looks good, who looks bad, who’s credible and who’s a flip-flop. McCain (my No. 1 pick for a Republican nomination) has done well to avoid talking too much about the other candidates, or himself.
The Democratic race is characterized by very few people. At this point I don’t have much to say about it. I’m sure we will continue to see Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) try to sell their images.
For the Republicans, it is not going to be all about who’s best at marketing themselves. At the end of the day, people want to see real issues being discussed, not images, and how Republicans are going to move forward.
And it may be that the general election will take a similar tone. At least I hope so.