Subject: Re: Breakdown of Guide: Clips, Ads, Facts, and Thematic Statements
From: "Begala, Paul" <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked]
Cc: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 08:23:52 -0500

On the negatives, a very important but missing piece is misplaced priorities. We should alter Number 1 to say he wants 100 years of war, and says he doesn't care about the cost. 

Need to change Number 4 too.  The attack is not a flip-flop on taxes it is that McCain wants to make the Bush economic program permanent, including cutting Medicare and Medicaid by $200 billion to pay for a permanent war in Iraq. 

----- Original Message -----
From: [email-masked] <[email-masked]>
To: mattzie Tom <[email-masked]>; [email-masked] <[email-masked]>; Begala, Paul; susan <[email-masked]>; John Podesta <[email-masked]>
Cc: Lori Lodes <[email-masked]>
Sent: Wed Feb 06 07:40:24 2008
Subject: Breakdown of Guide: Clips, Ads, Facts, and Thematic Statements

All,

Since we're shooting for noon with the focus group guide, I've broken the guide down for review in hopes that it might make giving quick feedback easier. In particular the facts and thematic statements need attention. We have nearly double the number of thematic statements we can test and need to cut 7. 

Thank you,
Rebecca 

These are the clips that will be used:

A.    [SHOW MCCAIN POSITIVE- EARMARKS WILL END- CLIP 1]

B.    [SHOW MCCAIN RECESSION (GROUP 1 OHIO, 4 NEVADA)- CLIP 2

C.    [SHOW MCCAIN NO IDEA ON INTEREST RATES (GROUP 2 OHIO, 3 NEVADA)-CLIP 2

D.    [SHOW MCCAIN 100 YEARS CLIP 3]

Here are the ads we're showing -- 4 ads in each group for a total of 25 minutes of ad-testing:

1.    Rose: Our children (GROUP 1 OHIO, 4 NEVADA)
2.    Rose: Priorities 1- health care/jobs (GROUP 2 OHIO, 3 NEVADA)
3.    American Reformer: Pro McCain (GROUP 1 OHIO, 4 NEVADA)
4.    McCain POW: Pro McCain (GROUP 2 OHIO, 3 NEVADA)
5.    Happy Together 1- Iraq (GROUP 1 OHIO, 4 NEVADA)
6.    Happy Together 2- Medicare/Min Wage/Tax cuts (GROUP 2 OHIO, 3 NEVADA)
7.    Dating (GROUP 1 OHIO, 4 NEVADA)
8.    McSame (GROUP 2 OHIO, 3 NEVADA)

Here's the McCain Positive Statement:

McCain has long been known as a straight talking maverick because he tells people the truth rather than what will get him elected.  He has won the "Taxpayer's Hero Award" three times for his efforts to fight pork barrel spending and special interests.  McCain is a true American hero with decades of foreign policy and military service in the Vietnam War during which he spent over five years as a Prisoner of War.  As president he will continue General Petreaus' (Puh-TRAY-us) successful strategy in Iraq and will modernize our armed services so they can better fight Islamic extremism.    

These are the McCain facts  -- we have to be at 10, so if you want to add one, please suggest one to cut:

1.    McCain wants to send more troops to Iraq and has said he's alright with keeping our troops there for the next 100 years or more.
2.    In 2000 John McCain called Reverend Jerry Falwell an "agent of intolerance." This year he has embraced Falwell in an attempt to pander to the far-right.
3.    John McCain is seventy-one (71) years old and has had cancer twice. If elected, he will be the oldest man ever to assume the office of the presidency
4.    After initially opposing President Bush's tax cuts because he said they were unfair to the middle class, he now wants to make these tax cuts permanent. 
5.    In 2006, McCain led the fight to give illegal immigrants citizenship, but now that he is running for president he won't say if he would vote for his own bill.
6.    McCain has 59 lobbyists among his chief fundraisers, more than any other presidential candidate, and his campaign manager and chairman are both corporate lobbyists.
7.    In 2000, McCain opposed overturning Roe v. Wade, but now that he's running for president he says we should ban all abortions, even in the case of rape and incest.
8.    McCain says there will be other wars after Iraq and has suggested we should bomb Iran.
9.    McCain insists that the economy is fundamentally strong and that we are not heading toward a recession.
10.    McCain has said that he "doesn't really understand economics." 

These are the thematic statements about McCain -- we need to cut 7. GQRR has listed the statements in the order they recommend using them:

1.    [GROUP 1 OHIO, 4 NEVADA] [IRAQ - PRIORITIES]  The war in Iraq has already cost us over 1 trillion dollars, and we're spending another 10 billion dollars every month, money that could be used to create jobs or provide health care here at home.  Yet McCain proposes keeping our troops there for another hundred years.  His policy would cost us trillions more over the coming decades. 

2.    [GROUP 2 OHIO, 3 NEVADA]  [ENDLESS WAR –BUSH]  On Iraq and Iran, McCain is an even bigger hawk than George Bush.  Bush says we will be in Iraq for 50 years.  McCain says we will be there for 100 years or more.   Bush has threatened Iran.  McCain says there will be more wars in the region and that we may have to bomb Iran.

3.     [GROUP 1 OHIO, 4 NEVADA] [DOESN'T UNDERSTAND ECONOMY] With a housing market in crisis, increasing prices, stagnant wages and the first drop in jobs in nearly 5 years, the next President will need to have a good handle on the economy,  but McCain admits that he "doesn't really understand economics" and will have to read Alan Greenspan's book to learn the ropes. 

4.     [GROUP 2 OHIO, 3 NEVADA]  [ECONOMIC FUNDAMENTALS]  With a housing market in crisis, increasing prices, stagnant wages and the first drop in jobs in nearly 5 years the next President needs to understand the real challenges facing our economy.  But, like George Bush, McCain insists that "the fundamentals of our economy will remain strong" and that we're not headed for a recession.

5.    [GROUP 1 OHIO, 4 NEVADA]  [OUT OF TOUCH – WEALTH] McCain defended his opposition to a minimum wage increase by noting that he had forgone a pay raise in recent years and claiming this had caused a hardship for his family.  But McCain makes over 160,000 dollars a year and is worth up to 30 million dollars.

6.    [GROUP 2 OHIO, 3 NEVADA]  [OUTSOURCING AND TRADE] McCain says that American manufacturing jobs that have moved overseas are (quote) "never coming back" (end quote) but he still thinks globalization is a (quote) "opportunity" (end quote) for American workers.  McCain is a strong proponent of free trade; he supported free trade with China and NAFTA, which he claims has created millions of jobs.

7.     [GROUP 1 OHIO, 4 NEVADA]  [ENERGY]  McCain has taken nearly half a million dollars from the oil industry and his campaign chairman is a lobbyist for Saudi Arabia.  He has voted repeatedly to give billions in tax breaks to oil companies already making record profits.  Last year he killed legislation that would have funded 13 billion dollars in investments in renewable energy by eliminating tax breaks and subsidies for Big Oil.  

8.     [GROUP 2 OHIO, 3 NEVADA]  [HEALTHCARE]  On the issue of health care, McCain is indistinguishable from Bush.  McCain supported Bush's veto of a bill to extend health insurance to 10 million kids, and he has repeatedly voted to cut billions from Medicare.  His health care plan, like Bush's, would give insurance companies more power to deny people coverage or jack up premiums. 

9.    [GROUP 1 OHIO, 4 NEVADA]  [LOBBYISTS] McCain rails against lobbyists on the campaign trail but he has 59 of them raising money for his campaign, far more than any other presidential candidate. His campaign manager is a former lobbyist for telecom companies – the industry McCain oversees on the Commerce committee – and his campaign chairman made millions lobbying for Saudi Arabia

10.    [GROUP 2 OHIO, 3 NEVADA]  [FLIP-FLOPS]  McCain says he is a straight talker, but he has changed many of his positions to run for president.  He voted against the Bush tax cuts, but now he supports them.  He said he would never overturn Roe v. Wade, but now he wants eliminate a woman's right to choose.  He wrote legislation to give illegal immigrants citizenship, but now he won't even say if he would vote for his own bill. 

WE SUGGEST CUTTING THESE MESSAGES.

11.     [BUSH 3RD TERM]  McCain would be nothing more than a 3rd Bush term. He has voted with Bush 90 percent of the time overall and 100 percent of the time on Iraq.  Like Bush, he would keep our troops in Iraq for decades.  McCain supported Bush's veto of the children's health care bill, Bush's plan to privatize social security Bush's tax cuts for millionaire and big corporations.

12.    [SECURITY]  McCain says he would follow Osama bin Laden to the Gates of Hell, but when asked how he plans to capture bin Laden, he dodges the question.  McCain still insists that Iraq is the central front in the war on terror.  His plan to keep troops in Iraq for 100 more years will keep our military stretched too thin to fight al Qaeda and other terrorists in Afghanistan or elsewhere. 

13.    [OUT OF TOUCH – NO WEALTH] McCain is out of touch with American families.  He opposed increasing the minimum wage from 5 to 7 dollars but supports putting seniors' retirement funds at risk by privatizing Social Security.  He wants to extend the Bush tax cuts for millionaires and big corporations and he even supported Bush's veto of the Children's health care bill. 

14.    [TAXES] Most economists support a short-term stimulus plan targeted at the middle class, but instead of backing measures aimed at helping middle class Americans, McCain's solution is to make Bush's tax cuts for those making over 200,000 dollars permanent and to cut taxes on big corporations by another 30 percent.

15.    [SOCIAL SECURITY]  McCain not only supported George Bush's plan to privatize Social Security, he traveled the country with Bush to try to help sell it.  The Bush/McCain plan would slash guaranteed benefits and risk seniors' retirement funds in the stock market while adding a trillion dollars to our national debt.

16.    [ENDLESS WAR – NO BUSH]  Not only does McCain wants to send even more troops to Iraq and keep them there for 100 years or more, he would drag us into other conflicts in the Middle East.  He admits that if he becomes president there will be more wars and he says we may have to bomb Iran. 

17.    [IRAQ – STRAIGHT HIT]  McCain said the war in Iraq would be easy and that we would be greeted as liberators.  He has voted with Bush on Iraq 100 percent of the time, proposes sending even more troops to Iraq, building permanent bases like the ones we have in Korea and Germany and keeping our forces there for 100 years or more. 

-- 
Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza
202-587-1652 [o] 
919-423-4783 [m]
[email-masked]