"In the latest effort to counter-program Obama’s tour of Europe and the Middle East," reports CNN, "the Republican National Committee will air radio ads promoting John McCain’s candidacy in three different Berlins: Berlin, New Hampshire; Berlin, Pennsylvania; and Berlin, Wisconsin." The Dean campaign was a lot of fun in early 2003. It was like the political version of the movie Big: One morning, all these activists and news junkies woke up to find that they had substantial control over a real presidential campaign! The result was a campaign strategy with a lot of joy and whimsy to it; I remember, in particular, when Dean spent $300,000 or so to run ads in Crawford, Texas. The Dean campaign wasn't going to win Texas, but mischievously running commercials in Bush's hometown would raise a few bucks, attract some buzz, and be a gas for Dean's supporters. Long term, however, it wasn't an effective strategy. Among the Dean campaign's problems was that, as it inched ever closer to the nomination, it had to grow up. The maturity and savvy of their strategy had to equal their size. It didn't. And we're seeing the same problems in the McCain campaign. In 2000, McCain got pretty far by being a whole lot of fun. In 2008, he won by being human where Romney was robotic, and capable where Huckabee was entertaining. But while that may get you some good press coverage, and let you slip through a weak field, it's not enough to carry you through a general election. Stunts like this are cute, but they reflect the McCain campaign's broader problem: They just don't know what to do with their campaign. They don't know what message to offer, or advantage to play up, or attack to levy. They don't know how to counter the Obama campaign's capacity to control the new cycle and set their own narrative. Every day thus ends up being a new adventure, with a new message and a new take. That makes it a lot of fun, but it's not going to be enough.
