"So far, it’s Paul Ryan 0, Jim Messina 1. Get ready for the next round."JOHN GRESS/REUTERS

[applegrove]

So far, it’s Paul Ryan 0, Jim Messina 1. Get ready for the next round.

JOHN GRESS/REUTERS

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/so-far-its-paul-ryan-0-jim-messina-1-get-ready-for-the-next-round/2012/08/15/368f0404-e6f4-11e1-936a-b801f1abab19_story.html

"SNIP....................................

The 2012 presidential race, with Ryan’s proposed Medicare overhaul front and center and Messina in charge of President Obama’s reelection campaign, is shaping up to be Round 2. Fueled by his past success against the would-be vice president, the man known to operatives in his beloved Montana as “Jimmy the Stick” relishes the fight.

“Congressman Ryan led congressional efforts to try to privatize Social Security and undermine the social contract our nation has had for generations to keep seniors out of poverty after a life of hard work,” Messina wrote in an e-mail, adding: “We didn’t let him succeed then, and we can’t now.”

Messina, a 42-year-old powder-pale operative who has never lost an election, left Baucus’s office to become chief of staff of the 2008 Obama campaign. He then entered the White House as deputy chief of staff under Rahm Emanuel (now mayor of Chicago) and solidified his reputation as a tough mercenary more interested in results than ideology.

As profane as Emanuel and more analytical, Messina is now tasked with running an enormous venture in the Obama campaign, one that requires a mastery of fundraising, emerging technologies and old-school political knife-fighting, along with a slavish devotion to message discipline. (Can anyone say: Bain, Bain, Bain?) With the addition of his old foil, Ryan, to the Republican ticket headed by Mitt Romney, and the spotlight that Ryan’s controversial budget proposal shines on Medicare, Democrats think Messina’s experience quashing Social Security privatization makes him an ideal general.

.......................................SNIP"

[monmouth]

1. Messina is doing a great job. Every lob gets a return and a sharp one..n/t

[Panasonic]

2. He really needed to utilize Dean's 50 state strategy

instead of picking the battlegrounds (like our state of Colorado) - so the Democrats can teach even the low information voters what they are REALLY all about.

But the good Doctor was tossed aside back to old DLC methodology that usually fails when they are spineless (but seems to have actually found their spines this time around.....)

[Drunken Irishman]

5. That would be electoral suicide...

You can't run a 50 state strategy unless you have unlimited funds and Obama doesn't. They have to focus on states they need to win instead of states that aren't critical to their electoral strategy. Campaigning in Utah or Oklahoma, investing funds there, is a waste of money and time.

It's not a bad idea on paper, but implementation? It is. It would set Obama up for a huge, embarrassing loss.

You know, back in 1960, Richard Nixon pledged to campaign in all 50 states during his race against Kennedy. So, while he made a detour to Alaska the final week of the campaign to secure that pledge, Kennedy was in the swing states of Ohio, New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania campaigning.

Kennedy would lose Ohio, but won Michigan, Pennsylvania and New Jersey - NJ by .8%, and Michigan and Pennsylvania by 2%.

That's the election right there. Had Nixon spent that final week campaigning in those states, he probably could have won.

But he had to go campaign in Alaska...and he lost.

You can't feasibly run a 50 state campaign on the presidential level. It's just not smart politics. You focus on the states you NEED to win. Ambition is great...too ambitious, though, and you might lose.

[applegrove]

6. The race comes down to a few percentage of undecided independants in a few battle

ground states. Less than a million people who the GOP is targeting with unlimited ads. Obama is doing the right thing by concentrating on them.

[eridani]

7. The 50 state strategy was party-building BEFORE presidential elections n/t

[applegrove]

3. Yes. Obama has a great team. Their turn around time is really quick too.

[magical thyme]

4. he's got such a cherubic smile in the pic

who would ever guess he's "hyper-aggressive?"

So, Ryan is that twerp who blamed Bush's failure to get his privatization scheme through congress? I'd forgotten about that. Bush, who succeeded in ramming down an unnecessary, illegal war, along with a whole lot of other disastrous shit, down our throats. But couldn't sell us his 2-headed nickel Medicare scheme?

Meh. You've got a bit over 2 months for your sales pitch, Ryan. Get out your white board and good effing luck. You're gonna need it.

[CTyankee]

8. My god, that pic! He looks like a putti in a Renaissance painting...

right down to the full, rosy lips!