In more genteel times, the major parties would lay low during the other side’s political conventions, giving them their moment and expecting the same in return. Such gentlemen’s agreements are long past now.
These days, the parties even boast about their guerrilla tactics. On Sunday, Rep Debbie Wasserman Shultz, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee and representative of Florida’s 20th congressional district, gave reporters a tour of her party’s “war room” to counter the Republican message from their Tampa political convention.
“I love every bit of it,” Wasserman Shultz told the Tampa Bay Times, when asked about her role as chief buzz killer. “It’s going to be crazy but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The man chosen to walk point for the war room was Vice President Joe Biden, who was set to appear in Florida during this week’s convention. Spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said Biden was “going to the belly of the beast.”
But Hurricane Isaac forced the White House to scuttle plans to fly him in on Monday.
Meantime, the GOP was firing salvos back at the Democratic operatives. Republican Nation Committee Chairman Reince Priebus got snarky with Wasserman Shultz, tweeting Sunday: “Interesting contrast, @DWStweets thought politicking in Tampa was more important than hurricane prep in her district.” (Later that day, Wasserman Shultz did cancel a planned press conference to head to her home district.)
The Democrats, though, have a long-range strategy to fall back on. President Obama will be making a series of campaign stops to battleground states throughout the coming week. These include Ames, Iowa, and Fort Collins, Colo., on Tuesday, and Charlottesville, Va., on Wednesday. The latter appearance is being timed to coincide with Rep. Paul Ryan’s speech accepting his party’s vice presidential nomination.
First lady Michelle Obama will appear on “The Late Show with David Letterman” on Wednesday as well.
The Democrats’ aim is to keep the focus on Mitt Romney’s negatives and not give his campaign the chance to change the subject to the economy — or any other subject for that matter.
Part of the frustration Republicans feel is that the Democrats’ media blitzes have been fairly successful. “I do think the president’s campaign of personal vilification and demonization probably draws some people away from me,” Mitt Romney told USA Today on Sunday.
It’s not as if Republicans don’t try to create static when the Democrats convene. In 2008, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was dispatched to Denver to counter the Democratic message. The GOP will likely have some type of a presence in Charlotte, N.C., next week during the Democrats’ convention.
Unfortunately for Republicans, the best tool they have for stepping on the Democrats’ message won’t come until the first Monday of September, when the next unemployment report comes out. The jobless rate is expected to remain above 8 percent. Imagine if the number came out today.
