The Strategic Timing of McCain’s VP Announcement
By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, McCain, VeepThe Vice Presidential gamesmanship is fully underway. Reports out of the John McCain campaign indicate that the Arizona senator will hold off announcing his running mate until after the Democratic convention. By waiting until that moment, McCain should be able to seize headlines immediately following Barack Obama’s nomination.
A secondary scenario has McCain waiting until the convention actually begins and then announcing his running mate following President Bush’s speech on the opening night. That would help deflect coverage away from the president and onto the McCain campaign.
Both scenarios show what kind of bind McCain is in. He’s not only competing for attention against the crowd-pleasing Obama but must also try to deflect the negative attention generated by an unpopular sitting president. Whether McCain will pick a vice president that can make any difference remains to be seen. But at least he should be able to schedule that announcement in a way that benefits his campaign.
This entry was posted on Monday, August 4th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, McCain, Veep. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 4th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
McCain would do well to stop dragging this out and let us conservatives know if he really intends to govern in at least a largely conservative fashion….or if he intends to continue thumbing his nose at us so we can decide if we’re going to hold ours for him, or not! I’d like to know if I can vote FOR him and not AGAINST Obama. I still can’t honestly say that in my heart. If he makes a poor choice and alienates the people he really needs to win, and leave our nation in a world of hurt. Romney, Thompson, even Cantor, great! Another RINO and he’s in trouble…we all are, as we’ll be living in the Ununited States of Obama.
August 5th, 2008 at 7:05 am
[...] the McCain campaign already considering timing the announcement of the VP choice to minimize coverage of President Bush during the convention, you have to wonder what else McCain might do to distance himself from the [...]
August 22nd, 2008 at 5:31 pm
The Strategic Timing Of McCain’s VP Announcement…
Alan Stewart Carl, a moderate blogger, writes: “Reports out of the John McCain campaign indicate that the Arizona senator will hold off announcing his running mate until after the Democratic convention. By waiting until that moment, McCain should be ….