10/09/2008

How Obama and McCain run their campaigns

How two campaigns are run. My guess is that the Obama campaign feels that they can get away with a lot because the press cares so much for him, but in any case since Obama says that you can judge his managerial abilities by looking at his campaign, this might be useful to look at.

The Obama aides who deal with the national reporters on the campaign plane are often overwhelmed, overworked and un-informed about where, when, why or how the candidate is moving about. Baggage calls are preposterously early with the explanation that it's all for security reasons.

If so, I would love to have someone from Obama's campaign explain why the entire press corps, the Secret Service, and the local police idled for two hours in a Miami hotel parking lot recently because there was nothing to do and nowhere to go. It was not an isolated case.

The national headquarters in Chicago airily dismisses complaints from journalists wondering why a schedule cannot be printed up or at least e-mailed in time to make coverage plans. Nor is there much sympathy for those of us who report for a newscast that airs in the early evening hours. Our shows place a premium on live reporting from the scene of campaign events. But this campaign can often be found in the air and flying around at the time the "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric" is broadcast. I suspect there is a feeling within the Obama campaign that the broadcast networks are less influential in the age of the internet and thus needn't be accomodated as in the days of yore. Even if it's true, they are only hurting themselves by dissing audiences that run in the tens of millions every night.

The McCain folks are more helpful and generally friendly. The schedules are printed on actual books you can hold in your hand, read, and then plan accordingly. The press aides are more knowledgeable and useful to us in the news media. The events are designed with a better eye, and for the simple needs of the press corps. When he is available, John McCain is friendly and loquacious. Obama holds news conferences, but seldom banters with the reporters who've been following him for thousands of miles around the country. Go figure.

The McCain campaign plane is better than Obama's, which is cramped, uncomfortable and smells terrible most of the time. Somehow the McCain folks manage to keep their charter clean, even where the press is seated.

The other day in Albuquerque, N.M., the reporters were given almost no time to file their reports after McCain spoke. It was an important, aggressive speech, lambasting Obama's past associations. When we asked for more time to write up his remarks and prepare our reports, the campaign readily agreed to it. They understood.

Similar requests are often denied or ignored by the Obama campaign aides, apparently terrified that the candidate may have to wait 20 minutes to allow reporters to chronicle what he's just said. It's made all the more maddening when we are rushed to our buses only to sit and wait for 30 minutes or more because nobody seems to know when Obama is actually on the move. . . .

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think the comparison in how they run their campaings is much simpler:

Obama has mainly run on a McCain is George Bush platform, That is Obama's main strategy. The whole "change" thing was just his gimmick.

McCain's main strategy has been that he is more qualified and has the better track record at working across party lines. The whole "maverick" thing is just his gimmick.

What it boils down to in this election thus far has been the power of the mass media which has heavily favored Obama from the start. Was horrible on Hillary and has been just as horrible on Palin. McCain has done enough in the past to bring the media on himself. But there lies the major difference.

The media is willing to capitalize on McCain's past and present indiscretions, or foul ups. They are NOT however willing to capitalize on Obama's past and present foul ups.

The media has been a dominating deciding factor since the Bush/Gore election. Find me a media outlet who has the audience, the courage and the author, to gather, collect and distribute the facts of the media's influence in this campaign and you'll see the tides turn.

Already reports of voter fraud in Ohio and Missouri are beginning to disappear. Notice how the media has made it a negative stance to bring up anything about Jeremiah Wright, Ayers, Obama's past religous and political ties, his wife's "Whitey" comment or anything controversial to do with Barack Obama, yet everything about John McCain and Sarah Palin was out there in front everywhere?

- The equalizer

10/09/2008 1:10 PM  

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