Being rather a novice at the whole political game and noting how instrumental the DSCC and DCCC chairs were for us this cycle, I decided to dig down a little and find out some details about the newly elected NRCC chair, Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma.
My findings? Be prepared, folks. We're in for an even more brutal fight next time around.
Details on Rep. Tom Cole below the fold...
Tom Cole is one of the most sought-after campaign strategists the Republicans have. Even while serving in Congress, he has remained the main political consultant of his firm of Cole, Hargrave, Snodgrass and Associates, which counts among its clients Chip Pickering, J.C. Watts, Tom Coburn and Steve Largent.
He has served both as Executive Director of the National Republican Congressional Committee and as Chief of Staff of the Republican National Committee during the 1990s. He's also been Oklahoma Secretary of State and chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party.
A sweep of the blogosphere the last couple of days shows the Republican nutcase operative types can hardly contain themselves over the election of Tom Cole.
His biography is pretty impressive, too. He's the son of a fixture of Oklahoma state politics, state senator Helen Cole. He is also a member of the Chickasaw Nation and is the only Native American in the House. He holds an MA from Yale and a PH.D. of the University of Oklahoma, both in British History, and is a former Fulbright Fellow at the University of London. For several years he was a college professor in history and political science. (Here's his Congresspedia entry.)
This guy is described as a cool operator and primarily a political consultant. I'd say he will be Rahm Emanuel's equal, unlike Tom Reynolds. This guy rightly makes Tom Reynolds look like an amateur.
What will his plan of attack be? According to the New York Times he says:
Campaigns "are really about ideas and vision. And when you have that, you attract the candidates you need," Cole said Friday following his election. "The vision of a smaller, more conservative, more responsive government that gives the American people the freedom they want is the one we'll be running on in 2008."
and
"The idea that there are only three dozen competitive congressional districts in America is a myth," Cole wrote in a letter to House Republicans Nov. 9. "If we accept it, we doom ourselves to playing on a constricted battlefield that will benefit the incumbent majority party. Both parties have made that mistake in recent elections. We will not make it in 2008."
Basically this guy plans a Republican 50-state strategy of conservatism. Given his background and track record, I recommend we pay close attention.
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Update [2006-11-18 8:28:28 by glamberson]:] I found
this piece from last December which includes a memo from Tom Cole to his fellow Republican Congressmates on election strategy. Here are some of the choicer quotes:
...Elections between candidates and parties are about clarifying choices for voters. And, as my old friend the late Lee Atwater used to say, when you are in a campaign you "must define or be defined". You should talk about your opponent and his positions as much as you talk about yourself and your own positions. That is something we have not done consistently this year...
and
...let's not be afraid to say that the Democrats could win, that the stakes are high and that victory at the polls is not automatic. The Democrats are determined to defeat us next year and a little paranoia on the part of our supporters is not a bad thing when it comes motivating and turning out our base.
This guy is a real fearmonger. He plans on being brutal, no doubt about it.
[
Update [2006-11-18 16:9:3 by glamberson]:] I'm absolutely overwhelmed by everyone's response to this. It's thrilling to have reached the top of the Recommended list (earlier)! Thanks to everyone for participating in this discussion.
I'm going to give some thought into how to parlay some ideas offered here into a DKos KTE (Know Thy Enemy) Project which could track Republicans' campaign leadership, strategy, tactics, principals and the like. My time is limited, and if anyone else wants to run with this, please be my guest. However, I'm going to try to give it some thought and come back with another diary on the subject to see what might be advantageous.
This is of course nothing new. All campaigns have this sort of focus to some degree. However, with such an effort, we would be able to more quickly respond to Republican dirty tricks in a concerted fashion and even give a hand up to some of the more longshot-type of races who don't have much in the way of organization. I'm sure there could be all sorts of benefits to such an effort.
Please continue to add your thoughts, especially on this additional idea of a DKos KTE Project. The discussion so far has been outstanding.