Advice For W.
1) Don’t believe the myth that the Republican party is “fractured” and needs “healing.” There is no rift in the GOP. In choosing our nominee, there has been a noteworthy and increasing consensus. No honest examination can conclude anything other than the obvious fact that the Republican party is energized. If you ask me, the party in big trouble is the Democrat party. With this economy, Gore should have coasted to victory, and no one, especially Bradley, should have been able to raise $20 million to oppose him. Therefore . . .
2) Don’t move to “the center.” There is already a concerted effort by the press to insist that Bush can’t win with the voters he’s got. He has to make a pitch to moderates and independents. Gazillions of them — so numerous that even if McCain had gotten them all, he’d still have lost.
This is simply a ploy to tempt Bush into betraying those who voted for him. To the Bush team: Don’t get sucked in by this mantra that you can’t win without McCain people. McCain lost everywhere he tried except for five small Northeastern states, Michigan, and his home state of Arizona. You have already demonstrated that you have a winning message. Don’t turn your back on it. Don’t give up ground you’ve conquered. The media says, “Bush needs crossovers or he can’t win.” Yet that is never said about Gore. It is also never reported that Bush is running stronger with women than either McCain or Gore. Have you heard the term “gender gap” lately? I didn’t think so.
3) Don’t champion campaign-finance reform. In poll after poll asking voters to identify issues most important to them, campaign-finance reform shows up at 1 percent — if it shows up at all. That issue simply isn’t one on which presidential votes turn. You can’t argue that campaign-finance reform is a huge issue when the two guys who ran on it — McCain and Bradley — are out of the race. (Of course, campaign-finance reform could be an issue — if Bush combined it with the issue of crimes committed by a sitting vice president. As in Al “Maria-Hsia-is-my-friend” Gore.)
4) Do see to it that the base stays energized. The Reagan base in the GOP is more excited and stirred up than at any time I remember in the nearly twelve years I have been doing my national show. It is Bush’s responsibility to keep this fire burning in everyone. Right now, they want to break the speed limit to get to the polling place; it is up to the candidate to keep them at this pitch throughout the year.
5) Do stay on offense. The way to do that is to continue to hammer on Algore. Getting rid of the Clinton-Gore mob is the single most motivating factor for Republican voters — fumigating D.C. and not letting Gore get away with the lies and rhetorical bullying that Clinton got away with. Let Gore whine about “partisan attacks” (while characterizing Bush as a racist, sexist, homophobic environmental terrorist). Let the media moan about how “mean,” “bitter,” “divisive,” and “nasty” the campaign is (while tracking down every unsourced rumor about the Republican nominee). Every time Gore tries to exploit any American problem, there’s a ready response: “You’ve had seven years; why haven’t you fixed it?”
The message is reform, renewal, and change — and Bush owns it.