John McCain’s 5 Biggest Campaign Blunders
John McCain is an honorable man and deserves to be President as much as anyone who has run in the last half century. However, McCain and his campaign have made some really bad blunders during his 2008 campaign against Barack Obama. McCain could even still win the election on Tuesday but if he is defeated then here are the top five reasons why he lost to Obama.
John McCain’s 5 Biggest Campaign Blunders
5. Didn’t Have Anyone on Campaign as Smart as Joe the Plumber – Hundreds of high paid campaign staffers and it takes an unlicensed plumber from Ohio, the now famous ‘Joe the Plumber’, to point out to America that Obama want’s to take money from one economic class and ’spread the wealth’ to those of a lesser income class. Barack smartly repeated over and over “tax cuts for 95% of Americans” during every debate and campaign stop. It wasn’t John McCain but ‘Joe the Plumber’ that realized that “tax cuts for 95%” was Barack’s disguise for a new version of welfare and income redistribution. It still is mindblowing that neither McCain or anyone on his staff didn’t take the time to truly read and disect Obama’s 95% tax cut policy proposal. McCain was truly dead in the water until Barack showed up on Joe Wurzelbacher’s front yard where Joe asked the question that turned McCain’s campaign around and awoke America to Obama’s modernized welfare plan proposal.
4. Not Developing an Unstoppable Ground Game – It is hard to understand how McCain wrapped up the GOP nomination in March yet failed to develop an unstoppable ground game during the next three months while Hillary Clinton and Obama continued to battled it out against each other for the democrat nomination. Perhaps John was just napping up and preparing for the long and gruesome campaign trail. The more plausible answer is that a majority of conservatives and hard-right wing republicans were less than thrilled that he was the party’s nomination for President. Obama’s ground game is very similar to the one President George W. Bush had in 2004 that was near unstoppable despite being a very unpopular incumbant for re-election. Obama even has a freaking iPhone application to help supporters get out to vote and persuade others to do the same for Obama. With an unbalanced and biased media McCain needed to make up for it with a strong grass roots effort and he failed.
3. Not Attacking Obama on Reverend Wright – McCain is so afraid of being labeled a racist that he wouldn’t even bring up the controversial, anti-American pastor of Obama during the campaign. John was so visibly shaken at the third debate by Rep. John Lewis comparing him to the racist George Wallace that his blood was boiling. He demanded a repudiation from Barack, but Obama wouldn’t give it to him. Obama’s claims that he didn’t know that Rev. Jeremiah Wright had said so many hateful and anti-American things during his 20 years of attending the controversial Chicago church. A vast majority of Americans found Obama’s denials to be flimsy and not the truth. McCain could have gained as much as 5 percentage points by attacking Obama on Wright, but McCain stuck to his word that he wouldn’t bring Wright up (and we know he didn’t because he would unfairly have been branded a racist by team Obama).
2. Suspending Campaign to Return to D.C. to Work on Financial Bailout – It was a risky move that backfired on McCain. He had to take a chance at the time as the econmic crisis was hemmoroging his campaign to an early death. He went for it on 4th and 1 from the 2 yard line and came up 2 inches short. The best thing he could have done would have been to return to Washington and vote against the bailout. The bailout was proposed by President Bush and Barack voted for it along with almost every other democrat. If McCain had opposed the bill then he would have done what 80% of Americans were in favor of. In the process he would have voted against Obama and Bush at the same time. But to McCain’s credit he thought and thinks the bailout is the best thing for the American people. He does seem to almost always put country first even if it is damning to his own political aspirations.
1. Running for President of the United States – Nobody can blame McCain for running for President of the United States. He has for sure earned the opportunity and frankly is within 2-3 percentage points of actually winning the nation’s highest office. But the GOP would almost for sure have guaranteed victory if they had nominated Mitt Romney. Romney is a smart businessman, good economic issues, and would have had a lot of right answers during the three week financial crisis where McCain’ campaign floundered. Romney is also young and attractive. Unfortunately to many religious right voters he is Mormon and that unfortunately kept him from beating McCain. A Romney/McCain or Romney/Guiliani ticket would have almost certainly led to a victory over the extremely liberal and inexperienced Barack Obama.
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Which blunder do you think was the worst campaign decision for John McCain? Do you have one that wasn’t mentioned? If so leave a comment below with your thoughts!
Sphere: Related ContentVice-President Romney?
According to Micheal Sneed of the Chicago Sun Times former Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is probably going to be Sen. John McCain’s running mate.
Sphere: Related ContentSneed hears rumbles former GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is being touted as John McCain’s veepmate by the top leadership of the National Republican Central Committee — and privately by Dubya’s dad, former President George Herbert Walker Bush.
• The upshot: Romney wants the job.
Mitt Romney To Endorse Republican Front-Runner John McCain
John McCain is going to have a special Valentine from Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney, who had went back and forth with McCain before dropping out of the race, is expected to endorse McCain later Thursday afternoon/evening. This will only help bolster McCain with some of the conservative crowd (that supported Romney) that has hesitations with McCain. It will be interesting to see what Romney has gained from giving this endorsement.
Photo Source: Morewhat.com
Sphere: Related ContentWhy Did Mitt Quit?
Why did Mitt quit? Miscalculations is the answer the New York Times gives as the reason for the unraveling of Mitt Romney’s presidential hopes. Some will say that it was that could not break out in the conservative South, which really damages a republican conservative. A reason for that might be given for is that Romney’s faith didn’t play well for him in the South, while it did in Utah. Faith should not have played into it, though it more than likely did (favorably and unfavorably) in many places into the country. Mitt sunk $35 million into campaign ship that didn’t float, it is hard not to feel a little sorry for him. Not that he didn’t bring it on himself, he did (by running for president).
If Mr. Romney’s campaign were condensed to one of his trademark PowerPoint presentations, it would have had all the bullet points foretelling success: a multimillionaire candidate willing to relinquish his fortune to run, an unsettled Republican field and a candidate whose championing of conservative positions could motivate the party’s base.
Yet Mr. Romney’s advisers acknowledged Thursday an array of tactical missteps and miscalculations. Perhaps most significantly, they conceded that they had failed to overcome doubts about Mr. Romney’s authenticity as they sought to position him as the most electable conservative in the race, a jarring contrast to his more moderate record as governor of Massachusetts. And during the January nominating contests, as his opponents attacked his shifting on issues, polls showed his favorability ratings plummeting.
Mr. Romney spent more than $35 million of his own money trying to get himself elected, but his campaign faced challenges from the start, some from obstacles beyond his control.
Suspicions about Mr. Romney’s Mormon faith consumed his campaign early on, only to seem to fade from view. But his advisers and outside experts agree that the unease ultimately helped pave the way for Mike Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist pastor, to emerge from the backbench of the Republican field to win the Iowa caucuses, a central, costly goal of Mr. Romney’s strategy. Then Mr. Romney’s aides failed to anticipate the collapse of Rudolph W. Giuliani’s candidacy, leaving no one to halt Senator John McCain’s resurgence among moderate Republicans and independents.
Source: MSNBC
Sphere: Related ContentRomney Steps Out Of The Presidential Race
1:16 Update: Romney did not endorse John McCain, he did say that he must do what is right for the Party (Republican) and for the Country.
12:55 Update: Mitt Romney is giving a speech to officially suspend his presidential campaign and has stated that 4 million people voted for him for president, but that John McCain has had 4.7 million people vote for him.
Mitt Romney is to announce that he is going to suspend his campaign today. Reason for this is because he doesn’t want to be seen as a spoiler or mean Mitt to John McCain who is going to be the Republican Standard Bearer (Republican Presidential Nominee) this November. Romney is also trying to save his political future by not staying in and bashing John McCain and Mike Huckabee.
Photo Source: MSNBC
Sphere: Related ContentDelegate Count For Republican After Super Tuesday
John McCain established himself as the solid front runner with big wins in New York and California. Mike Huckabee exceeded expectations by winning every Southern state that vote on Super Tuesday, and almost taking Missouri which is a southern border State. Mitt Romney did much worse than expected and didn’t win California, which was a must for him. Ron Paul consistently got 5-6% of the vote and much more in a couple of States, though Super Tuesday overall is going to be a huge blow to his Republican presidential bid.
Current Delegate Counts For Republicans after Super Tuesday
John McCain- 720
Mitt Romney- 256
Mike Huckabee- 194
Ron Paul- 14
Sphere: Related ContentHuge Advertising Bills For Super Tuesday
The Presidential candidates are putting their money where their mouths are (literally) by putting money back into the economy with some outrageous advertising fees being paid for Super Tuesday. Chalk one up for the corporate medias wallet. The Democrats are spending tons more than the Republicans and most of it in the pricey California Market. Obama gets the title of the big spender as he is spending more than his democratic rival Hillary Clinton. If he manages to get in office, hopefully he will not retain that title.
Twenty-four states are on the line on Super Tuesday, set up to be a do or die day for many candidates hoping to create an image of invincibility. To help with that image-making, several candidates will shell out a record $20 million on ad blitzes across the country in the run-up to Feb. 5.
The large bulk of that sum — 90 percent — will be spent by Democrats.
The biggest spender is Barack Obama. He is taking out ads that will run during the Super Bowl in about two dozen states. That’s on top of the $4 million in advertising Obama spent in the final week of January — the bulk of it in California.
Through Super Tuesday, the Illinois Democratic senator is expected to spend roughly $11 million nationwide. The second biggest ad buyer heading into Super Tuesday is Hillary Clinton. In the final week of January, she spent $3.5 million, also mainly targeting California, with another $8 million going to ads hitting on the themes of economic instability and her experience.
The Republicans are spending a lot less, with Mitt Romney leading the GOP spenders. His campaign has yet another infusion of cash loaned from his personal fortune – giving himself about $35 million to date. But Romney is expected to spend only about $2 million to $3 million on Super Tuesday costs.
Source: Fox News
Sphere: Related ContentMitt Romney Victorious In Maine Caucus
Despite rumblings of Ron Paul potentially winning the Maine Republican Caucus or coming in second, he comes in third place to Mitt Romney and John McCain, perspectively. Paul and Romney are the only people that themselves or a surrogate visited. If Ron Paul can’t win in a State like Maine, it is doubtful he will be able to pick up any states on Super Tuesday. Not to say Paul couldn’t win any, but it is unlikely.
AUGUSTA, Maine — Mitt Romney won the presidential preference voting context by Maine Republicans on Saturday in the party’s municipal caucuses, which were heavily attended across the state.
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, had a little over half of the vote with about two-thirds of the towns holding caucuses reporting. John McCain worked to keep his vote above 20 percent, trailed by Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee.
The nonbinding votes, the first step toward electing 18 Maine delegates to the Republican National Convention, were taking place in public schools, Grange halls, fire stations and town halls across the state.
Source: Fox News
Photo Source: MSNBC
Sphere: Related ContentReagan Library Debate or The Romney and McCain Show
They might as well have called this debate the McCain/Romney Show. It is hard to tell any of questions with McCain and Romney bickering so much. Anderson Cooper, who is normally is a good reporter, had no ability to control McCain or Romney. Total time that Huckabee and Paul got to talk was maybe 12 minutes total. We did learn that Mitt Romney has the ability to be extremely long winded without saying much. John McCain seemed to be out of it, and it was obvious that he hates Mitt(en) Romney.
Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul both did well with what time they got. Huckabee came to his own and Ron Paul’s defense at one point saying that he didn’t go to the debate to watch McCain and Romney to take swings at each other, but that he wanted a chance to take a few swings at some questions himself, and for the moderators to pay some attention to the two guys at the end of the table( meaning himself and Ron Paul). Overall, there can’t be a proclamation of a winner of the debate, because it was more like an arguing match between McCain and Romney. Huckabee and Paul definitely made more of their limited time than Romney or McCain.
Sphere: Related ContentRomney Will Carry On Despite Losing Florida
Mitt Romney fans have no fear he is staying in the race until the end.
Republican Mitt Romney, his family and supporters vowed to carry his campaign into the vote-rich Super Tuesday contests next week after narrowly losing Florida’s primary to rival John McCain.
In his concession speech Tuesday night, Romney issued a call to arms to conservatives to support him, vowing to cut federal spending, end illegal immigration and teach children “that before they have babies, they should get married.”
Source: MSNBC
Sphere: Related ContentCurrent Delegate Count For Republican Nominees
After the Republican Florida Primary, John McCain has a nice lead in delegates, and has moved into first place. Florida is a winner take all state, meaning that all of the States delegates go to the winner of the Primary. This win gave McCain the Front runner status and will help him going into Super Tuesday.
Candidate Delegates
1. John McCain 93
2. Mitt Romney 59
3. Mike Huckabee 40
4. Ron Paul 4
5. *Rudy Giuliani 1
* Rudy Giuliani is expected to drop out of the Presidential Race and endorse John McCain for President.
Source: Associated Press
Photo Source: theactblog.wordpress.com
Sphere: Related ContentJohn McCain Wins Florida Republican Primary, Hillary Clinton Wins Florida Democratic Primary
Update: The Florida Primary has been called and John McCain has been projected as the winner with 58% of the vote being counted.
1. John McCain- 37%
2. Mitt Romney- 31%
3. Rudy Giuliani- 15%
4. Mike Huckabee- 13%
5. Ron Paul- 3%
With Florida votes starting to be counted, 41%of the Republican ballots has been tallied. Right now, these are the for the Republican Primary, with it being too close to call.
1. John McCain – 34%
2. Mitt Romney- 32%
3. Rudy Giuliani- 15%
4. Mike Huckabee- 13%
5. Ron Paul – 3%
The Florida Democratic Primary is a different story. Hillary Clinton has been projected to win. With 41% of the ballots counted,and a surprising number of votes for a race that doesn’t count. Expect Clinton to challenge the Democratic ruling to get the Delegates from Florida Reinstated.
1. Hillary Clinton- 49%
2. Barack Obama- 29%
3. John Edwards- 15%
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