Who's afraid of the DNC?
Kaine pick sends ripples across RNC
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine’s appointment last week as chairman of the Democratic National Committee has reminded Republicans of an essential quality their next leader must have: an ability to take the fight directly to the leader of the opposing party.
Since Kaine will be a constant and close adversary, a sparring partner on the Sunday political talk shows and a competitor for the attention of the public and the press, the notion that the next RNC chair must be an effective communicator is gaining traction among some party members.
Given Kaine’s profile as a sitting governor and a one-time contender for the vice presidency, Republicans say their new chairman will have to show some serious presence on the air - fast.
“I think it’s important to have someone who can represent us well in that situation,” said Mississippi Republican Party Chair Brad White, who endorsed South Carolina GOP chair Katon Dawson Friday. “Someone who can express themselves so that the American people can know what the hell they’re talking about.”
Few of the candidates for chair are known as great communicators, and none of them can match Kaine’s standing as a sitting state executive.
“The buzz around town isn’t that Gov. Kaine is a master spokesman,” said Republican communications strategist Ron Bonjean. “Having said that, you do need someone up there who does have a quick head, who has a quick wit and can think on his feet.”
But while Kaine, a former attorney, lieutenant governor and mayor of Richmond, is not known for his overwhelming charisma or magnetism on the stump, he’s a battle-tested political surrogate who helped deliver Virginia for the Obama-Biden ticket. His selection as DNC chair suggests the White House has confidence in his skill as a public communicator.
Among the RNC contenders, fans of former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele are particularly bullish on his communications skills, honed as a Fox News commentator. And both he and former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell carry at least some extra heft from their background as elected officials.
“Without doubt, I think Michael Steele would be somewhere in the lead of the pack on that issue,” said James Dunn, the RNC committeeman for Oklahoma, who is uncommitted in the race.
Dunn added: “You go with Ken Blackwell, he’s got the experience.”
Incumbent Chair Mike Duncan, known as a low-profile technocrat throughout much of his term, has also been stepping up his television appearances.
“Mike Duncan gets freed up now by not having to carry water for the Bush administration, by not having to carry water for the McCain campaign,” said New Hampshire Republican Party Chair Fergus Cullen, who supports Duncan’s reelection bid. “Gov. Kaine’s job is going to be carrying water for the Obama administration. He’s not really going to be an independent person or have an independent voice.”
Three other candidates - Dawson, Michigan Republican Party Chair Saul Anuzis- are all less familiar faces to national television viewers, though all received positive reviews for their performances in a televised RNC debate last week.
Dawson said he looked forward to confrontations with Kaine, 50, and dismissed any suggestion that a former state party chair would have difficulty locking horns with a sitting governor.
“There’s not a sitting governor in the country that would intimidate, really, any of our party chairmen,” Dawson said. “There is certainly not an intimidation factor of Tim Kaine to Katon Dawson, I can assure you of that.”
Dawson, 52, joked: “I certainly won’t hold his youth and inexperience against him.”
Anuzis suggested that despite Kaine’s status as DNC chair, he would have other top targets as chair of the RNC.
“My job won’t be to take on Kaine. It will be to take on Obama, Pelosi and Reid,” he said.
Still, some candidates for chair are focusing on proposals to deploy a wider range of Republican surrogates to parry the messages that will come from Kaine and the Democratic Party.
Duncan has pledged to create an RNC Speaker’s Bureau that could dispatch high-level Republican surrogates to the airwaves, and to events on the campaign trail and in battleground states, to carry the GOP message, rather than relying on the chairman alone.
“Our party will be best served when our message is delivered consistently and effectively by hundreds of knowledgeable speakers across the country,” Duncan’s plan reads.
And Dawson suggested South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as examples of the spokespeople the party could use to counteract the ascendant Democratic message machine.
Some RNC members are sympathetic to this approach.
“We’re going to have to present a lot of different faces,” said Georgia committeeman Alec Poitevint. “It would be nice if the Democrats had one face on the shows and Republicans had a hundred.”
Others, however, want a more aggressive on-air presence from the chairman himself. And when cable bookers come calling, there’s little doubt the RNC chair will be asked to do at least some one-on-one appearances with Kaine.
“We need somebody to hit the ground running,” said Holly Hughes, the RNC committeewoman for Michigan and a Steele supporter. “It makes even more sense now that we are not going to have the presidency and not going to have the White House, to have somebody who can really hit the ground running as far as communications go.”
One Steele backer scoffed at Duncan’s plan for a Speaker’s Bureau: “Why don’t we just hire actors? Maybe Nicole Kidman?”
Whether Republicans ultimately choose to use their party chair as a focal point, or prefer to spread that responsibility across multiple party leaders, Democrats are quick to note that it will take more than a deft television personality to rebuild the Republican message, nationally.
“The GOP’s problem isn’t its messenger, it’s its message or lack thereof,” said Phil Singer, a Democratic strategist who served as deputy communications director for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Singer continued: “Until Republicans figure out a successor to their now-obsolete mantra of government being the root of all evil, the party could have Abe Lincoln running the RNC and still wouldn’t have anything to say.”
Republicans don’t frame the challenge in quite such dire terms, but they, too, recognize that the GOP’s communications challenge requires a more expansive solution than just a new party chair.
“Not only do you have to have an effective messenger,” Bonjean said, “but you also have to have a clear, concise message, a positive message, about what the Republican Party is for, going forward.”
Source
Semi-related but not worthy of its own post I guess - Kaine answers questions submitted through the internet - includes information on the future of the fifty state strategy (skip about 10 minutes in).
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine’s appointment last week as chairman of the Democratic National Committee has reminded Republicans of an essential quality their next leader must have: an ability to take the fight directly to the leader of the opposing party.
Since Kaine will be a constant and close adversary, a sparring partner on the Sunday political talk shows and a competitor for the attention of the public and the press, the notion that the next RNC chair must be an effective communicator is gaining traction among some party members.
Given Kaine’s profile as a sitting governor and a one-time contender for the vice presidency, Republicans say their new chairman will have to show some serious presence on the air - fast.
“I think it’s important to have someone who can represent us well in that situation,” said Mississippi Republican Party Chair Brad White, who endorsed South Carolina GOP chair Katon Dawson Friday. “Someone who can express themselves so that the American people can know what the hell they’re talking about.”
Few of the candidates for chair are known as great communicators, and none of them can match Kaine’s standing as a sitting state executive.
“The buzz around town isn’t that Gov. Kaine is a master spokesman,” said Republican communications strategist Ron Bonjean. “Having said that, you do need someone up there who does have a quick head, who has a quick wit and can think on his feet.”
But while Kaine, a former attorney, lieutenant governor and mayor of Richmond, is not known for his overwhelming charisma or magnetism on the stump, he’s a battle-tested political surrogate who helped deliver Virginia for the Obama-Biden ticket. His selection as DNC chair suggests the White House has confidence in his skill as a public communicator.
Among the RNC contenders, fans of former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele are particularly bullish on his communications skills, honed as a Fox News commentator. And both he and former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell carry at least some extra heft from their background as elected officials.
“Without doubt, I think Michael Steele would be somewhere in the lead of the pack on that issue,” said James Dunn, the RNC committeeman for Oklahoma, who is uncommitted in the race.
Dunn added: “You go with Ken Blackwell, he’s got the experience.”
Incumbent Chair Mike Duncan, known as a low-profile technocrat throughout much of his term, has also been stepping up his television appearances.
“Mike Duncan gets freed up now by not having to carry water for the Bush administration, by not having to carry water for the McCain campaign,” said New Hampshire Republican Party Chair Fergus Cullen, who supports Duncan’s reelection bid. “Gov. Kaine’s job is going to be carrying water for the Obama administration. He’s not really going to be an independent person or have an independent voice.”
Three other candidates - Dawson, Michigan Republican Party Chair Saul Anuzis- are all less familiar faces to national television viewers, though all received positive reviews for their performances in a televised RNC debate last week.
Dawson said he looked forward to confrontations with Kaine, 50, and dismissed any suggestion that a former state party chair would have difficulty locking horns with a sitting governor.
“There’s not a sitting governor in the country that would intimidate, really, any of our party chairmen,” Dawson said. “There is certainly not an intimidation factor of Tim Kaine to Katon Dawson, I can assure you of that.”
Dawson, 52, joked: “I certainly won’t hold his youth and inexperience against him.”
Anuzis suggested that despite Kaine’s status as DNC chair, he would have other top targets as chair of the RNC.
“My job won’t be to take on Kaine. It will be to take on Obama, Pelosi and Reid,” he said.
Still, some candidates for chair are focusing on proposals to deploy a wider range of Republican surrogates to parry the messages that will come from Kaine and the Democratic Party.
Duncan has pledged to create an RNC Speaker’s Bureau that could dispatch high-level Republican surrogates to the airwaves, and to events on the campaign trail and in battleground states, to carry the GOP message, rather than relying on the chairman alone.
“Our party will be best served when our message is delivered consistently and effectively by hundreds of knowledgeable speakers across the country,” Duncan’s plan reads.
And Dawson suggested South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as examples of the spokespeople the party could use to counteract the ascendant Democratic message machine.
Some RNC members are sympathetic to this approach.
“We’re going to have to present a lot of different faces,” said Georgia committeeman Alec Poitevint. “It would be nice if the Democrats had one face on the shows and Republicans had a hundred.”
Others, however, want a more aggressive on-air presence from the chairman himself. And when cable bookers come calling, there’s little doubt the RNC chair will be asked to do at least some one-on-one appearances with Kaine.
“We need somebody to hit the ground running,” said Holly Hughes, the RNC committeewoman for Michigan and a Steele supporter. “It makes even more sense now that we are not going to have the presidency and not going to have the White House, to have somebody who can really hit the ground running as far as communications go.”
One Steele backer scoffed at Duncan’s plan for a Speaker’s Bureau: “Why don’t we just hire actors? Maybe Nicole Kidman?”
Whether Republicans ultimately choose to use their party chair as a focal point, or prefer to spread that responsibility across multiple party leaders, Democrats are quick to note that it will take more than a deft television personality to rebuild the Republican message, nationally.
“The GOP’s problem isn’t its messenger, it’s its message or lack thereof,” said Phil Singer, a Democratic strategist who served as deputy communications director for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Singer continued: “Until Republicans figure out a successor to their now-obsolete mantra of government being the root of all evil, the party could have Abe Lincoln running the RNC and still wouldn’t have anything to say.”
Republicans don’t frame the challenge in quite such dire terms, but they, too, recognize that the GOP’s communications challenge requires a more expansive solution than just a new party chair.
“Not only do you have to have an effective messenger,” Bonjean said, “but you also have to have a clear, concise message, a positive message, about what the Republican Party is for, going forward.”
Source
Semi-related but not worthy of its own post I guess - Kaine answers questions submitted through the internet - includes information on the future of the fifty state strategy (skip about 10 minutes in).