On Friday, Sept. 5, 2008, Sen. Obama should arrive in Alaska to give a speech and launch the fall campaign. Here’s why this idea, crazy as it might seem at first, works on so many levels. Before we go west, follow me down south.
We know Obama is the master of the roll out—able to command the press’s attention at a moment’s notice. Remember the timing of the Edwards’ endorsement? It blunted the news impact of Hillary Clinton’s landslide win in West Virginia, an important task for shoring up superdelegate support and keeping the alive the "Obama has won" storyline.
Taking a page from Obama, McCain rolled out Palin the day after Obama’s masterful convention speech, sucking some of our media oxygen. For all we know, McCain killed a few points off our bounce.
It’s payback time.
Right now, and for good reason, it’s all-Palin, all the time. That’s OK for a time; the focus rightly is on the recklessness of McCain’s judgment and the press is, finally, at work putting the Palin choice in that context, while investigating her problematic record and background. The smarmy details drip, drip, drip out hourly like a melting Alaskan iceberg in the globally warmed future that is, according to Palin, a figment of our imagination.
Obama needs to reset the focus to Bush=McCain on Friday without distracting too much press attention away from the Palin swamp (admittedly nearly impossible in the bloody, shark-infested water that is the "Sarah Palin pick").
Here are the top reasons for such an event and what it could accomplish:
- Stomp on any "bounce" or message coming out of St. Paul on Thursday. By unexpectedly traveling to Alaska on Friday, Obama hits a milestone that highlights the historic nature of his candidacy: he’ll be the first presidential candidate since, I believe, Richard Nixon in 1960 to have campaigned in all 50 states (can someone find a source for this?). This alone will command press attention.
- Appear presidential, not provincial. An Obama event in Alaska, by underscoring the 50-state strategy, elevates Obama far above its governor by reinforcing the message out of Denver: Alaskans, like people in the lower 48 and Hawaii, need change. They too need to see that Palin has hitched onto McCain, who represents more of the same failed policies of the last eight years. Do they really want four more years of Bush AND their popular (somewhat-dangerously-to-the-rest-of-us) Alaska-centric governor gone?
- Win the state. Obama’s been advertising in the state, the polls are close, and his campaign has pledgedto play for the west, including Alaska’s three electoral votes. He’d be the first Democrat to win the state in 44 years. Palin does dampen expectations for a win here, so the visit puts in sharp relief the Obama campaign’s confident posture, even after St. Paul and even if some in the base like Palin on the ticket.
There is a risk that the media will say the visit is some sort of stunt—all campaign events are to some degree—but Obama avoids that charge by pointing out that he’s plannedto go there all along.
And here’s a final bonus reason that the press, at least, should desire an Obama visit to Alaska: Those reporters who are there now investigating this unknown woman—who, thanks to McCain, has at least a shot at being the next vice president of the United States—could hitch a ride back to the lower 48 on the Obama plane for CHANGE.