| Vince Duffy, a former Gray Davis speechwriter, has a few thoughts on how to beat Arnold Schwarzenegger.
California Democrats should tie all of these Republican rascals, including the president himself, around Arnold's neck, from the primary through Election Day.
Pundits who say Democrats need a positive message miss the point. The message is that Democrats are not George W. Bush Republicans and Arnold is.
This year, that's more than enough.
It was, after all, Schwarzenegger who basked in the Bush glory at the Republican convention in 2004. To a nationwide audience, Schwarzenegger called Democrats liars and boasted that only Republicans can be tough on terrorists.
Even worse, it was Schwarzenegger who campaigned for President Bush in arguably the most important battleground state, Ohio, just days before Election Day in 2004 in front of 20,000 people.
That day, the governor said: "I'm here to pump you up to re-elect George W. Bush," and it was a success. Ohio went for Bush by a tiny margin. America re-elected the president and the Republican Congress.
Our task is to never let anyone forget that Schwarzenegger is responsible.(CapWeekly 5/25/06)
It's all stuff that's been said before, and I don't know if it's really enough. Yes, Arnold is a bad governor. Yes, he has ties with Bush (ie Dowd and Smith, former BushCo employees, now running his campaign), but it's not totally clear that it's enough against him. Unfortunately there's still going to be a group of people that will vote for Ahnold just because he's a movie star. Look, I was at the Capitol last week, and there were people queueing up to see him walk into the capitol. You think people were doing that for Davis? I think not.
I think tying Schwarzenegger to Bush will help. But only to a certain extent. The Dem nominee should also present the state with concrete ways that he is different than Arnold. There are plenty of ways to show that Arnold is not a moderate (such as that early veto announcment last week). We just need to make sure we can show that he is no moderate. |
