10.05.2004
Repubs Call For Flood Of Support
The NYTimes mentions how important this debate is to the Republicans:
Ken Mehlman, Mr. Bush's campaign manager, sent out an e-mail message to supporters early this morning.
"Immediately after the debate, visit online polls, chat rooms, and discussion boards and make your voice heard," he said in the note, sent to the six million supporters on the campaign's e-mail list. "People's perceptions are shaped as much by their conversations around the water cooler as by the debates themselves."
The note also exhorted supporters to follow up by writing letters to their local newspapers and by calling in to radio talk shows.
The note underscores the premium both sides place on the post-debate score keeping by the news media, which they consider crucial to shaping perceptions and creating momentum in the final weeks of the campaign.
Vice presidential debates are traditionally considered less high stakes, and less influential, than presidential ones. But both sides believe this year's vice presidential debate will carry more sway with voters given the perceived, heightened importance of the vice president's office in the post-Sept. 11 world.
Adding to the weight both sides are putting on the debate, Mr. Kerry's team is hoping his running mate Senator John Edwards can use the debate to build upon the momentum the campaign received from Mr. Kerry's well-reviewed performance last Thursday in Miami, where he won plaudits for keeping his answers uncharacteristically brief.
That performance was credited with erasing much of the lead Mr. Bush had gained in polls after the Republican convention in New York — though Mr. Kerry still trails the president in many polls when it comes to issues like national security, likability and conviction.
Mr. Bush's team, on the other hand, still smarting from the deepening impression that the president lost the debate and that he struck some viewers as peevish and annoyed, is hoping Mr. Cheney will reverse the perception and set the president up to put in a better performance on Friday night, when the next debate will take place in St. Louis in a town hall setting.
Mr. Bush's aides now concede that at the very least Mr. Kerry's aides did a better job at hammering home the perception that their candidate won the debate in Miami last week. Though Mr. Kerry's aides argue that the overwhelming perception that Mr. Kerry was the victor was based on reality, not campaign talking points, they said they went to great efforts to ensure that reality prevailed in news coverage of the debate for days.
That strategy included an entreaty by Mr. Kerry's campaign manager to visitors to his Web log, "Right now we need you to contact the media and speak your mind." That message was picked up by liberal bloggers and several reporters were deluged with e-mail messages about why the senders thought Mr. Kerry won.
Mr. Bush's aides were not content to let such entreaties go unmatched this time.
In his note to supporters this morning Mr. Mehlman wrote, "After last week's debate, the Kerry campaign spin machine managed to mask their candidate's flip-flops on the war in Iraq, imposition of a "global test" for protecting America, and repeated denigration of our troops and allies."
He added, "If we plan to win the election, we must fight back against their spin and make sure our friends and neighbors get the truth."
Right. The "truth" that Iraq is going well. The "truth" that there's no substance behind the accusations leveled at Haliburton. The "truth" that Saddam Husseing is somehow tied to Osama Bin Laden and his crew. Guys, get out there and give them hell.
Ken Mehlman, Mr. Bush's campaign manager, sent out an e-mail message to supporters early this morning.
"Immediately after the debate, visit online polls, chat rooms, and discussion boards and make your voice heard," he said in the note, sent to the six million supporters on the campaign's e-mail list. "People's perceptions are shaped as much by their conversations around the water cooler as by the debates themselves."
The note also exhorted supporters to follow up by writing letters to their local newspapers and by calling in to radio talk shows.
The note underscores the premium both sides place on the post-debate score keeping by the news media, which they consider crucial to shaping perceptions and creating momentum in the final weeks of the campaign.
Vice presidential debates are traditionally considered less high stakes, and less influential, than presidential ones. But both sides believe this year's vice presidential debate will carry more sway with voters given the perceived, heightened importance of the vice president's office in the post-Sept. 11 world.
Adding to the weight both sides are putting on the debate, Mr. Kerry's team is hoping his running mate Senator John Edwards can use the debate to build upon the momentum the campaign received from Mr. Kerry's well-reviewed performance last Thursday in Miami, where he won plaudits for keeping his answers uncharacteristically brief.
That performance was credited with erasing much of the lead Mr. Bush had gained in polls after the Republican convention in New York — though Mr. Kerry still trails the president in many polls when it comes to issues like national security, likability and conviction.
Mr. Bush's team, on the other hand, still smarting from the deepening impression that the president lost the debate and that he struck some viewers as peevish and annoyed, is hoping Mr. Cheney will reverse the perception and set the president up to put in a better performance on Friday night, when the next debate will take place in St. Louis in a town hall setting.
Mr. Bush's aides now concede that at the very least Mr. Kerry's aides did a better job at hammering home the perception that their candidate won the debate in Miami last week. Though Mr. Kerry's aides argue that the overwhelming perception that Mr. Kerry was the victor was based on reality, not campaign talking points, they said they went to great efforts to ensure that reality prevailed in news coverage of the debate for days.
That strategy included an entreaty by Mr. Kerry's campaign manager to visitors to his Web log, "Right now we need you to contact the media and speak your mind." That message was picked up by liberal bloggers and several reporters were deluged with e-mail messages about why the senders thought Mr. Kerry won.
Mr. Bush's aides were not content to let such entreaties go unmatched this time.
In his note to supporters this morning Mr. Mehlman wrote, "After last week's debate, the Kerry campaign spin machine managed to mask their candidate's flip-flops on the war in Iraq, imposition of a "global test" for protecting America, and repeated denigration of our troops and allies."
He added, "If we plan to win the election, we must fight back against their spin and make sure our friends and neighbors get the truth."
Right. The "truth" that Iraq is going well. The "truth" that there's no substance behind the accusations leveled at Haliburton. The "truth" that Saddam Husseing is somehow tied to Osama Bin Laden and his crew. Guys, get out there and give them hell.
