Election Night HQ

The Tower feels that an analysis of Senator McCain’s e-fundraising letter, distributed en masse in the aftermath of the Tuesday, June 5, debate among Republican hopefuls in New Hampshire, would be helpful in understanding the fund-raising strategy and tactics being used. 

Accordingly, here is the text of the public e-mail.  The Tower’s annotations accompany it, interspersed after each paragraph, and there’s a general summary at the end.

“My Friends,”

This is a good opening, for two reasons.  One is message consistency; you’ll notice that Senator McCain will often use the phrase “my/our friends,” during his town-hall meetings and other campaign appearances and remarks.  Obviously, he is not using the term “friends” in a literal sense (i.e, personal friendships), in a presidential campaign. 

What he is driving at, is the idea that a McCain campaign supporter/donor is a “friend” in a military/campaign sense, as opposed to “neutral” or “hostile”.       

“On the flight back after last night’s debate I stole a few moments of quiet to reflect on this campaign. I kept coming back to a passage from one of my favorite books - For Whom The Bell Tolls - where Hemingway writes that the world is “worth the fighting for.” During the debate, I was reminded how important it is for me to be standing on that stage, fighting to address our nation’s most serious challenges and discussing my vision for how we can make America even better in the future. Doing the hard things and tackling our nation’s most serious challenges isn’t easy - and sometimes it’s not even popular - but my friends, it is vital to our nation, worthy of our calling to be the greatest force for good in the world…and well worth the fighting for.”

The citation of one of America’s greatest 20th-century authors is a fine way to start out the letter, for a couple of reasons:

1)    Great literature is important, because it is a good indicator of a society and culture’s values and dreams and aspirations - and as such, an American politician should be familiar with it, as an expression of a uniquely American myth and ideal.  Hemingway’s phrase, “worth the fighting for”, is an apt quotation for a presidential campaign, as it expresses an inherently optimistic view of the world.  But at the same time, the phrase notes that a leader is going to have to endure some “fighting”.  This conflict can come overtly in terms of wars and military action, or in the peaceful but still contentious debates and campaigns and legislative floor fights - in order to im
prove the world, as a result of his/her leadership.

2)     The rank-and-file donors do not wish for its favorite politicians to spend literally 100% of their waking hours doing “political stuff”.  It is refreshing for them to read that a candidate does spend some time reading and (by implication) investing time in intellectual activities, that do not directly advance the candidate’s holding office and/or seeking office.     

“During the debate I was asked a number of questions about our nation’s most serious challenges. As I’ve travelled on the campaign trail, I have seen first hand the passion about these challenges on all sides. I appreciate this passion because it’s necessary to our democracy and to campaigns. Passion fuels us all to keep striving for greatness - indeed passion has been our nation’s hallmark since our Founding Fathers stood up for what they believed in over 200 years ago. That’s why I think it’s so important to run this campaign with a passion worthy of the President of the United States.”

This is a way of trying to tamp down the inevitable excesses of political rhetoric, which are an inevitable result of campaigns and democracy and debates.  The public does not enjoy campaigns or debates, and one of the major reasons why is the attack ad, the zingers in debates, and all of the other attempts to destroy the arguments and candidacies of one’s opponents. By offering to channel this passion into something worthwhile, McCain is turning a liability into an asset.  He spent much of the debate being flailed over supporting the compromise immigration bill.  The major reason why
immigration has attracted so much attention - and why Senator McCain has become the target of so much vitriol over it - is the fact that immigration is a highly contentious issue, among the most of them on the current political agenda - and as a result, it tends to attract a great deal of overheated rhetoric and even anger from partisans on both sides of the immigration divide. However, McCain is simply chalking up the attacks over the immigration bill, as the result of this passion - in contrast to saying, for example, that his opponents are wrong and/or simply doing so, to pander to base Republican voters.  He’s saying, instead, that this passion is a good thing, and a positive indicator of the strength of democracy.

Let’s go to the conclusion of the letter, with The Tower’s comments after Senator McCain’s signature box: 

     ”You should know by now that I’m not a candidate who will only do the easy things or say and do anything to get elected. I intend to tackle our nation’s challenges and not push them aside for an unluckier generation to deal with. That’s not good enough for America and as President, I will work each and every day to continue to make this nation that I love even better.

     This campaign is our chance to stand up and fight for what we believe in. That’s why I hope you will take a minute today to stand with me by donating to my campaign. Let me know that you also feel passionately about fighting to make America even better and that you want to make a difference by helping me get our message out. Facing our nation’s challenges head-on is the only way I know how - I won’t simply sit on the sidelines and complain. I want to keep fighting to make our nation even better, and I hope you do too.

     Campaigns are about ideas. Ideas about how to solve our border security and immigration crisis. Ideas for making America safer from the threat of terrorism. Ideas about making our government better serve its citizens. These are ideas I am fighting for and with your help, I’m going to continue fighting for them. I’m not running for President to be somebody - I’m running for President to do something. That includes taking a stand, doing the hard but necessary things to make this country the best it can be.

     I have fought for this nation in war, and I have served this nation throughout my life - and each step of my life’s journey has taught me a great love of this nation and a healthy respect for the passion and the energy that is our nation’s lifeblood. But now is not the time to be timid or shy away from our responsibilities to address our nation’s challenges. Now is a time for leadership, passion and the energy to stand up, address the important issues and make America even greater. I hope I can count on you to stand with me during this critical time so we can continue to run a campaign worthy of our calling.

There are some parallels to the closing of his e-fund-raising letters of June 4 and May 30 (those two were identical).  However, what is interesting: what was said in those two letters that were absent from this one.  For example, the two earlier letters spelled out possible $ donations, complete with $ signs; they weren’t there in this one.  The donor is asked simply to “stand with me by donating to my campaign.”

It also made no reference to the political calendar, a possible acceleration of the Iowa caucuses, and the importance of putting up respectable numbers by the second quarter deadline of June 30.  All were conspicuously present on June 4 and May 30, but absent from June 6.

The Tower believes that this particular e-mail was intended to engage the donor/supporter on a higher plane, than the somewhat mundane world of fund-raising deadlines and improving free-media coverage - the nuts and bolts of campaigning.  The key difference is that this letter came on the heels of a prominent debate. 

Odds are, a donor watched at least some of it, and debates are high-profile forums where a candidate has the opportunity to express lofty rhetoric about why he/she is running for office, and appeal to the donor’s sense of patriotism and faith in the candidate as a statesman.  Asking people to give in order to improve the second quarter numbers does not ask them to make a leap of faith in the candidate.  But asking them to donate, so that McCain “can keep fighting to make our nation better” - that’s a much better rallying cry.

Do you have a question about campaigns, politics, etc.?  Or do you have information to pass along?  Or both?  The Tower welcomes all replies and/or commentary, positive or otherwise.  You can contact The Tower at tower@campaignia.org.

Come visit the main site  - www.campaignia.org  - for more about Campaign 2008 and campaigns in general.