Democratic Insiders Poll

by James A. Barnes and Peter Bell

Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008


Q: What portion--if any--of the Democratic convention program should be devoted to tearing down John McCain and the Republican brand?

More than half      4 percent 
About half         37 percent
About a third      25 percent
About a quarter    25 percent
Hardly any          8 percent

About half

"Democrats will lose unless they undermine McCain by linking him to Bush and showing him to be the unpredictable, rudderless, short-tempered guy that his colleagues know him to be."

Bloggers PollNational Journal has invited top bloggers to join in its survey of insiders for the Democratic and Republican conventions.

"The Republicans are the incumbent party, and Obama and the Democrats need to make this election a referendum on them."

"Democrats have a 12-point partisan advantage. And Obama has a 2-point advantage. We should be drawing a partisan contrast throughout the convention, so 50 percent negative."

"The Democratic convention needs to frame the choice between continuing the failed Bush economic policies or a change to the Obama economic policies that will turn around the economy for America's middle class."

"The Republican brand is already badly damaged. What we really need to do is effectively connect John McCain to the already damaged brand."

"It's time for voters to get a taste of who McCain really is. There is a way to do it without it being as shrill and as harsh as McCain. Having said that, I don't think it will be the Obama camp's approach."

"The Obama deification strategy has worked well, hasn't it? Hopefully, someone in Chicago hasn't forgotten the lesson of [the] 2004 [convention]."

About a third

"The Kerry convention in 2004 made a big mistake in asking us to stay positive. The convention is an ideal time to point out the numerous failures of the Republican Party and their nominee."

"Obama is too uncomfortable attacking other people."

"This will be the first time a lot of voters will be looking at Obama for an extended period of time: He needs to start to close the deal."

"Sen. Obama's hallmark is his optimism and sense of hope. He should reinforce that."

About a quarter

"The convention should inspire and build momentum. Negativity can be a drag."

"It should be zero, but you've got to deal with the Republican bullies. We know what they will do."

"Voters are concerned about how Obama will lead. They have already concluded that the Republicans have screwed things up."

"This election is clearly about Obama. No matter how much convention speakers try to demonize McCain, [he] will be an acceptable place for undecided voters to go if Obama does not pass the 'presidential' test with them."

"Much more time needs to be spent by Obama telling the country who he is, what he stands for, and how his policies are going to make this a better country."

Hardly any

"Voters want a Democrat, they want change, and they are trying to figure out if they're comfortable with Obama. The convention should be about making voters comfortable with Obama."

"We barely know you, Barack Obama. We better by the end of the convention."

We also asked prominent bloggers to answer this question.

Democratic Political Insiders: Karen Ackerman, Jill Alper, David Axelrod, Brad Bannon, Dave Beattie, Andy Bechhoefer, Cornell Belcher, Mitchell W. Berger, Mike Berman, Donna Brazile, Mark Brewer, Ed Bruley, George Bruno, Deb Callahan, Bonnie Campbell, Bill Carrick, Martin J. Chavez, Tony Coelho, Jim Craig, Jerry Crawford, Stephanie Cutter, Jeff Danielson, Peter Daou, Jim Demers, Tad Devine, Debbie Dingell, Monica Dixon, Michael Donilon, Tom Donilon, Anita Dunn, Jeff Eller, Steve Elmendorf, Carter Eskew, Eric Eve, Vic Fazio, Peter Fenn, Scott Ferson, Gordon Fischer, Tina Flournoy, Don Foley, Don Fowler, Gina Glantz, Joe Grandmaison, Anna Greenberg, Stan Greenberg, Pat Griffin, Michael Gronstal, Marcia Hale, Paul Harstad, Laura Hartigan, Mike Henry, Leo Hindery, Jr., Harold Ickes, Marcus Jadotte, John Jameson, Steve Jarding, Jonathon Jones, Jim Jordan, Gale Kaufman, Shar Knutson, Kam Kuwata, Celinda Lake, David Lang, Sylvia Larsen, Jeff Link, Bill Lynch, Steve Marchand, Jim Margolis, Paul Maslin, Terry McAuliffe, Caroline McCarley, Susan McCue, Gerald McEntee, Tom McMahon, Phil McNamara, David Medina, Mark Mellman, John Merrigan, Steve Murphy, Janet Napolitano, David Nassar, Marcia Nichols, John Norris, Tom Ochs, Tom O'Donnell, Scott Parven, Jeffrey Peck, Debora Pignatelli, John Podesta, Tony Podesta, Bruce Reed, Mame Reiley, Steve Ricchetti, Susan Rice, Will Robinson, Steve Rosen-thal, David Rudd, John Ryan, Wendy Sherman, Terry Shumaker, Phil Singer, Bob Slagle, Erik Smith, Doug Sosnik, Darry Sragow, Karl Struble, Katrina Swett, Sarah Swisher, Eric Ta-bor, Jeffrey Trammell, Ed Turlington, Mike Veon, Rick Wiener, Bridgette Williams, JoDee Winterhof, and Jim Zogby.

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