Fans of the show know that we always stress a strong counter-punch, or in some cases a good sucker punch if it's needed. Some Democratic strategists are starting to think that Obama is being too soft on McCain and needs to hit back harder. But he did unveil a new ad blitz this week attacking the phony notion of McCain being a "maverick" that we think is pretty effective. So far Obama has yet to go super negative on McCain and has instructed liberal surrogate groups like moveon.org to do the same, which is worrisome to many democrats who remember what happened in the last two elections. But, apparently this is all part of a master plan:
Consultants close to Obama say the Democrat has good reason not to risk his own campaign by following McCain's lead. Because McCain has accepted public financing for the general-election campaign, he must spend all his primary campaign money before the party conventions. Obama is focusing on turning out voters, while airing a mix of positive ads and responses...This strategy does make sense, but can't he let moveon.org run one or two ads reminding voters of McCain's links to the Keating Five or his many other ethical lapses and flip-flops...PLEASE?
Because Obama opted out of public financing and the spending limits that come with it, he will be free to swamp McCain with television spots in the fall. If he needs to become more negative at that point, he can -- knowing that McCain would be hard pressed to reply.
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