Power And Dollar

Democratic primary is getting close to a close.  It is now May and we still have not seen much of the Republican candidate in the TV yet.  How will McCain define himself before the TV?  What will contrast him against the Democrat other than his age?

Since the incumbent is Republican, he has to make himself more centrist, i.e. less Republican, de-Bush himself, especially when the incumbent is unpopular.  However, defining what you are not is very defensive and passive.  Defining what you are takes you back to control the battlefield.  

McCain may have sensed a few items that he can try to do without alienating the core Republican base.  The first is environmental issues.  He is less environmental than most of the Democrats.  However, he can feel comfortable to claim he is the most environmental Republican.  He votes out of line of his own party than any of the Democrats against the Democratic Party.  For that reason, he can be more “centrist” and less “ideological” than the Democratic nominee.  If he can show that he understands the issue and the solutions are at least with some sense, he can save some votes from the youth and urbanites groups.

The second issue he is trying is the transparency and governance issue.  Obama is very much into the open transparency governance.  And McCain seems to want to out compete Obama on this front.  He wants to appear in the Congress regularly and have Q&As.  This will give a lot more power to the legislature from the executive.  This has a profound and long lasting effect.  However, this may not be easily understood in a general election.  This issue serves more like a party annual general meeting kind of platform item from policy wonks.  Thus, it could be like a balloon for testing sentiments.  

We will see more balloons coming out from McCain and his surrogates to see what ideas stick and what not.  McCain needs to try harder to define what makes him unique and not just out compete something Obama is already known for.