Twin Cities – Three Goals – Four Days (RNC Convention)

Last week, the Democrats had one mission to accomplish and that was to nominate Barack Obama. This week, the Republican Party has three main issues to address to have a successful convention: attack Barack Obama, nominate John McCain, and introduce Sarah Palin to the American people.

Refuting the vision Barack Obama laid out Thursday night is important because no one has really given any significant airtime to deflating the rhetorical balloon he floated from Denver last week. In nominating John McCain, the Republicans must do a better job of crafting an understandable policy message. After eight years of the Bush Administration, it will not be enough for McCain to say that he is not Obama. McCain has to tell us why we should vote for him instead of why we should not vote for the other guy. If he cannot communicate that to the American people this week, the campaign for the presidency is over.

Introducing Sarah Palin to the country is going to be more complicated than the other two goals combined. How much time do you give to this task? Do you focus on her conservative ideas or to try to make the connection to disaffected Clinton voters?

Also, the media will be splitting their focus between the Convention and Hurricane Gustav. With all of these pressures, the dilemma is that you only have four days to fulfill all three goals and less time to present your vision than the Democrats had last week. The more time you spend on introducing Governor Palin, the less time you have for attacking Obama or promoting McCain. I hope someone at the RNC Convention is really good in time and message management skills.

Pre-season is over. Next Sunday, the NFL will start its regular season schedule and the race for the presidency gets serious. The two greatest contact sports in the world are just about to begin…all I have to say is “play ball.”