Democratic strategists fear Obama missed chance to define McCain

Democratic strategists are criticizing Barack Obama’s campaign for discouraging liberal groups from waging an aggressive campaign this summer that would have defined John McCain as unsympathetic to the working class.

Democratic political operatives have scrambled in recent days to organize independent media campaigns to attack McCain, but some argue Obama missed a golden opportunity and that it may be too late to make up for the loss.

{mosads}“You had really no one over the summer going after McCain, and the election became a referendum on Obama,” said Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future, a liberal political advocacy group.

“That led to a couple of lost months that were not good for the Obama campaign.”

After leading Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) for months, Sen. Obama (Ill.) has fallen behind in most polls conducted since the Republican convention.

“I do think that the Obama campaign has paid a price for really shutting down the independent 527 operation,” Borosage said.

Outside groups allied with the Democratic Party, often known by their tax classifications as 527 or 501(c)4 groups, were much more active during the 2004 presidential election. A major reason is that Obama warned Democratic donors away from giving to these groups this year.

Obama aides wanted to control the political message environment without competition and distraction from outside groups. Obama officials also wanted to tamp down on negative campaigning that clashed with their message about hope and the dawn of an era beyond partisanship.

“There’s talk about doing it now, but it’s late now,” Borosage said in reference to last-minute efforts to mobilize an independent media campaign to define McCain. “There’s a lot of talk among liberals about putting it together.”

MoveOn.org has said it will double its advertising budget and begin highlighting ties between McCain and K Street.

Two other liberal groups, Democracy for America and Brave New PAC, have aired a cable television ad that features a former prisoner of war questioning McCain’s fitness to become president.

Mike Lux, a Democratic operative, has counseled big donors on making investments with outside, independent liberal groups.

But much of the recent activity of liberal strategists seeking to define McCain as out of touch with working-class concerns remains at the talk-and-planning stage, say Democratic strategists and allies.

Steve Grossman, a major Democratic fundraiser, said he has heard several pitches by independent groups in recent days but those plans are focused on turning Democrats and sympathetic independents out to vote. He has heard almost nothing from outside groups about planning an aggressive media campaign to undermine McCain’s credibility as an advocate for the working class.

“I have not had any conversations about any fundraising or any solicitations that have been focused on [the] need to raise $10 million to put such-and-such a message on TV,” said Grossman.

“I think the belief is the Obama campaign and DNC will have the resources to do what they need in the media world. Turnout among key constituencies is the principal goal of any 527 fundraising right now.”

Nick Shapiro, a spokesman for Obama’s campaign, defended the efforts to dissuade Democratic donors from funding attacks by outside groups.

“Barack Obama has consistently said that these outside groups don’t belong in our politics,” said Shapiro. “John McCain doesn’t share that view and has refused to steer his supporters away from giving to unaccountable groups.

“And when it comes to Swift Boat-style ads, it’s telling that the funders of that effort are now bankrolling ads on John McCain’s behalf. Just more of the same Bush politics.”

Chris Lehane, a senior adviser to former Vice President Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign, said Democrats should have begun defining McCain over the summer. He said it is difficult to begin less than 50 days from the election.

“There was an opportunity in June and July to really undermine the public trust as it relates to John McCain, that you can’t trust him to stand up for America’s families,” he said.

Lehane said that Democrats should have aired ads that would have defined McCain as an agent of the wealthy and of corporate America before Republicans had a chance to portray him as a selfless war hero at their convention in St. Paul, Minn.

“You could have really headed him off at the pass and it would have made a big difference for those 2 or 3 percent of voters who will make a difference in the election,” he said, in reference to white, working-class women who have emerged as a crucial swing bloc. “You can still do it, but it’s harder now that you’re in the late stages of the fall campaign.”

Other Democratic operatives offered harsher assessments of Obama’s summer campaign strategy.

“Clearly the Obama campaign lost the late summer — we know that — in terms of framing the debate,” said a Democratic consultant who requested anonymity for fear of sparking the ire of campaign officials. “It would have been helpful had there been a countermeasure out there to define McCain.”

Shapiro, Obama’s spokesman, however, said the campaign used June, July and August to define McCain.

“Throughout the summer we have been making the case that John McCain is out of touch and only offering more of the same failed Bush policies,” he said. “Right now we are in the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression. Yet Sen. McCain stood up [Monday] and said, ‘The fundamentals of the economy are strong.’ He just doesn’t get it.”

Democratic-allied groups, known as 527s because of their tax classification, financed massive media and grassroots campaigns on the behalf of Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), then the Democratic nominee.

Two of the biggest players, the Media Fund and America Coming Together, which combined spent more than $100 million, folded after the election.

It was the Republicans, however, who were seen to use 527 groups most effectively in 2004. The GOP-allied group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth crafted a media campaign impugning Kerry’s war record that many Democrats later acknowledged as a devastating blow.