First it was Rudy Giuliani who had his campaign plan leaked to the media. Now this ...
Today, the Boston Globe reveals they have obtained "an exhaustive internal campaign document," detailing Romney's campaign strategy.
The 77-slide PowerPoint presentation offers a revealing look at Romney's pursuit of the White House, outlining a plan for branding himself, framing his competitors, and allaying voter concerns about his record, his Mormon faith, and his shifts on key issues like abortion.
Here's a line that some Republicans might find concerning:
... the plan lists two ways Romney can set himself apart from Bush. The first says, simply, "Intelligence."
(I thought everyone was trying to get Bush's support? Guess not. Last week McCain takes a shot at Bush in California, and now this???)
The plan also implies Romney's team may be gearing up to launch a possible attack on Rudy Giuliani:
The plan also touches on what it calls Giuliani's ethical issues, including his relationship with Bernard Kerik , former New York police commissioner who withdrew from consideration to become US homeland security secretary amid allegations of improprieties. It raises Giuliani's "personal political liabilities," an apparent reference to his three marriages and bitter public divorce from his second wife, Donna Hanover.
Obviously, nobody wants their internal plans to become public. I don't want you to see my plans for taking over the world any more than Mitt Romney wants you to see his plans for winning the presidency. But they are out there now.
It should be noted that the mere fact that Romney's team is researching and gathering information on his opponents does not necessarily mean he is going to use this information in any sort of scurrilous way. This is what campaigns do. Good ones, anyway.
Another problem with any document like this is that it's hard to tell who actually wrote it. No doubt, it was a "strategist" -- not the candidate. As TR famously said, "Politics is like making sausage." The point is that the wrangling that goes on behind the scenes of any political campaign would generally not be viewed favorably by the general public. And, in an era when most Americans want less ribald in their politics, this story certainly won't earn him any points. Still, this is "inside baseball." It's the stuff that pundits talk about for a day or two. But, as we saw with Rudy's leaked plan, this will almost definitely be a minor bump in the road.
Another interesting phenomenon about all of these leaked documents is that 1. They don't tell us anything we don't already know (we know that Romney needs to address the Mormon issue, lack of war-time experience, etc.), but 2. It is still newsworthy to hear a candidate (or his team) admit their limitations -- and acknowledge they are playing the "game" of politics.
Lastly, is this just an example of the liberal media trying to stop a candidate from winning the nomination? It is interesting that both of the campaign plans that have come to light have been on the GOP side...
I don't recall another year when so many internal campaign plans have been revealed. Is this going to become standard?
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