Feanorcurufinwe
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Sun Nov-16-03 01:26 AM
Original message |
Clark to Launch Media Blitz in New Hampshire |
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Ads Aim to Show He Can Take on Dean
After weeks of internal chaos, personnel battles and an uneven performance by the candidate himself, Wesley K. Clark's presidential campaign will attempt to regain momentum this week with a massive media buy in New Hampshire and by highlighting its ability to raise money at the rate of about $800,000 a week.
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"We weren't just off to a slow start, we stumbled on our knees as we were getting into the race," said Richard Sklar, a senior campaign official. "We had to do in seven weeks what some people did in a year or 18 months. . . . Now we're running with the pack as we go down the final stretch."
Clark has been no small part of the problem, political strategists say. Although he has been in the public arena as an Army officer for 34 years, and as a commentator on CNN, his campaign aides said he was not quite prepared for an environment where his every utterance was scrutinized and challenged. Clark has struggled to be heard over his rivals during debates and was unable to explain how he would have voted on the congressional resolution on Iraq, hurting himself badly with the antiwar Democrats he needs to pry away from Dean. While he is engaged and charming one on one with voters, he comes across stiff during policy speeches and with the media.
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Still, within the campaign there is a sense that time is running out. Said another campaign aide, who asked not to be named: "Do we have a lot of time to make it right? No. We have a couple of weeks to turn around the perception that the campaign lost its focus."
Clark will spend a substantial portion of his resources on paid advertising, launching on Tuesday an ambitious two-month , $1.1 million media buy in New Hampshire that highlights his combat heroism and NATO leadership and keeps him on television through the Jan. 27 primary, with few down days. The ads will be launched with a $220,000 first-week blitz of 60-second spots. Campaign officials hope that the spots will help define Clark for the large percentage of undecided voters in the state who know little about him. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46093-2003Nov15.html
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Dagaz
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Sun Nov-16-03 02:09 AM
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1. I thought he was skipping NH |
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Am I misinformed? Really, did I catch the slow train on this? Separated at Birth?
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tedoll78
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Sun Nov-16-03 02:42 AM
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2. From what I understand.. |
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he's aiming for a strong finish there. I guess that's pretty realistic; he knows Dean (barring catastrophe) will win NH hands-down. So he's looking for momentum going into South Carolina. If he wins second (who knows? Kerry's plummeting right now) or third in NH, he will have placed ahead of Gephardt, Lieberman, and Edwards.. who have all be campaigning there for many more weeks than he will have. That's pretty impressive.
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virtualobserver
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Sun Nov-16-03 12:55 PM
Response to Reply #2 |
5. agreed,, 2nd place would be a win for Clark, and it would toast Kerry |
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He doesn't have anything to lose, and he has everything to gain. What are the undecided numbers in NH?
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FrenchieCat
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Sun Nov-16-03 02:49 AM
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When he was young and now....that's funny! He hasn't changed a bit! Fewer pimples.
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Larkspur
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Sun Nov-16-03 12:49 PM
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4. This proves to me that Clark is a stalking horse for the Dem Establishment |
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Since he chose to accept FEC Matching Funds, that act itself shows that he has little confidence in his supporters to match Dean's ability to inspire his faithful to foot his campaign bill. Also by accepting FEC matching funds, Clark is admitting defeat against Bush, who would blitz Clark, should he be the nominee, between the Dem Primaries and the Dem National Convention.
And now this ad blitz by Clark to upstage Dean in New Hampshire with the purpose of hoping to defeat Dean in Southern states, just proves to me that Clark is a puppet of the Clinton and Gore has-been aides, who know that they'll be booted out of any power they have within the Dem Party when Dean prevails and wins the nomination.
Clark's campaign to me has always been a chimera. If he was really serious, he would have entered earlier in the year so that he could have built an organization in all states, but especially in the early primary states, to pose a serious challenge to the Dem nomination.
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RUMMYisFROSTED
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Sun Nov-16-03 01:26 PM
Response to Reply #4 |
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Clark's late entry makes it a common sense move to accept matching funds. Unless he posted a $30M quarter, he'd fall way short of surpassing the funds provided by the federal match.
As to the stalking horse theory, we'll probably never know. I tend to subscribe to the notion that he's pursuing the ad blitz to try and get a respectable showing prior to the southern primaries, where he has much more promise. A 3rd in NH would serve him well in that regard. Imo, it's not about "upstaging Dean," it's about "staging Clark."
:shrug:
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DU
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Fri Apr 26th 2024, 06:29 PM
Response to Original message |