Astroturfing is being taken to new heights by the McCain Campaign. In a memo leaked to Wikileaks, the strategy of using displeasure in the Clinton camp over her losing is being exploited on the web.
Primarily, the focus will be on internet communities that are pro-Clinton. It's safre to assume places like HillaryIs44, HillaryClintonForums, and possibly even MyDD are being targeted for these activities.
I would further note that the exploitation will probably take two forms, both those who pose as Clinton supporters and those who pose as Obama supporters who push the stereotype the McCain campaign is trying to implant in the minds of Hillary supporters when it comes to their perceptioons about Obama and his supporters.
Join me after the jump for the text of the memo...
MEMORANDUM
To: *******
From: S. Schmidt
Date: May 15, 2008
Subject: Clinton Strategy
According to both internal polling and exit polls by independent news organizations, the Democratic Party is becoming increasingly polarized along certain segments of its base. The recent result in West Virginia, while generally unsurprising and definitely unlikely to cause any real shift in the race, highlights the growing bitterness between certain supporters of Clinton and the Obama camp in general. This unique situation has created an opening that could help depress the turnout of key Democratic demographics in November.
The specific group we are targeting is a cross-section of white, female voters over the age of 40. Internal polling reveals that this group is the most likely to support John McCain after Obama wins the nomination. However, we expect Obama’s numbers to improve following Clinton’s drop. Our job is to make sure that number stays as low as possible.
Our limited financial resources and the media’s attention on the Democratic race, however, prevent us from reaching this group. Our aim is to point out specific issues that we believe resonate well:
- Sen. Obama’s connection to Rev. Wright
- His inexperience
- His links to the corrupt Chicago political machine
However, we cannot fully achieve this goal without a greater commitment on the part of McCain’s fundraisers and our various media partners. In lieu of that, we have developed a number of inexpensive ways to reach this audience. We have already worked to reinforce the Clinton campaign’s narrative about the unfair treatment that some networks, specifically MSNBC, have given her camp. We are also planning to unroll a new campaign to highlight Obama’s experience deficit.
Simultaneously, our team has been testing new lines of attack through independent pro-Clinton communities on the Internet. Our hope is that our message here will spread by word-of-mouth. Our local community organizing has also been successful. We have organized dozens of "meet-ups" across the country for Clinton supporters, and we have used that time to stress the importance of punishing the DNC for choosing the undemocratically selected far-left Obama. At the moment, this is nothing more than a headache for the Obama campaign. With a greater commitment on your part, I hope to see it metastasize into something much more.
Let me know if you need more detail.
-S
Link to PDF of the Memo
UPDATE: The Wikileaks article does put forth argumetns both for and against the idea that this is a fake. Given some of what is spewd on specifically pro-Clinton forums, I would say it is more likely the memo is real, but that is my opinion.