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How to Beat Hillary (Next) November
Tackle issues families care about and Republicans too often shy away from. Jobs, the economy, taxes and spending will be big issues this campaign, but some issues that used to be "go to" ones for Republicans, like crime and welfare, don't have as much salience. Concerns like health care, the cost of college and social mobility will be more important. The Republican nominee needs to be confident in talking about these concerns and credible in laying out how he will address them. Be bold in approach and presentation.
Go after people who aren't traditional Republicans. Aggressively campaign for the votes of America's minorities. Go to their communities, listen and learn, demonstrate your engagement and emphasize how your message can provide hope and access to the American Dream for all. The GOP candidate must ask for the vote in every part of the electorate. He needs to do better among minorities, and be seen as trying.
Be strong on Iraq. Democrats have bet on failure. That's looking to be an increasingly bad wager, given the remarkable progress seen recently in Iraq. If the question is who will get out quicker, the answer is Hillary. The Republican candidate wants to recast the question to: who will lead America to victory in a vital battleground in the War on Terror? There will be contentious fights over funding the troops and over intelligence-gathering right after the parties settle on their candidates. Both battles will help the Republican candidate demonstrate who will be stronger in winning the new struggle of the 21st century.
The conventional wisdom now is that Hillary Clinton will be the next president. In reality, she's eminently beatable. Her contentious history evokes unpleasant memories. She lacks her husband's political gifts and rejects much of the centrism he championed. The health-care fiasco showed her style and ideology. All of which helps explain why, for a front runner in an open race for the presidency, she has the highest negatives in history.
While the prospective Republican nominee is talking about her now, the time will come soon when he must spend more time telling his story. By explaining to voters why he deserves to be our next president, he will also make clear why that job should not go to another person named Clinton.
Rove, former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff for President Bush, is a NEWSWEEK contributor.
© 2007
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Member Comments
Posted By: ralmu @ 05/17/2008 9:01:15 PM
Comment: And one way to beat McCain would be to pull out all the garbage Karl Rove threw at him during the Senator's bid against George Bush. He knows so much about why Mr. McCain must not be president!
Posted By: notroubleatall1963 @ 05/01/2008 11:13:13 PM
Comment: Crooks, murderers and war mongerers - the Republican Party is due for defeat and if they win, it will be because the Clintons have cooked a deal with the GOP/RNC or Bushes to make sure that the Black Man doesn't win (the Liberal)... and most Americans will be easily convinced not to change horses "while we're fighting two Arab countries" as one guy wrote on another messag board. OOooh, I'm so scared, mustn't "change horses in midstream" when the battles are really due to our own Administration's incompetence. How many deaths does George Bush have on his hands? Let's see - the several thousand who were killed in 9/11 happened on the Republican watch; the inept and failed capture of Osama Bin Laden that never happened has caused Al-Quaida to grow in Iraq and kill thousands of US tropps; but how many innocent war victims have we displaced from their homes, making their country so unsafe that they can no longer lead a normal life? How many innocent Iraqis has Bush killed through our terrible policies? How many Afghanis have we accidentally bombed, how many children have we accidentally killed or wounded? How many troops has Bush inadverantly (but intentionally through his policies) wounded or caused to commit suicide?
As a nation, we have lost our stature, our dignity and our honor - due to Bush's Administration, policies, poor choices and to your advice Mr. Rove. And is this war in Iraq just for the oil? Why the hell didn't you just buy it on the open market and save us all the TRILLIONS of DOLLARS in debt that our children and their children will still be paying off to fight this no-win war? There is nothing to be encouraged by this Iraqi venture; we are not going to see "victory" there. The best possible solution seems to me (and I'm certainly no expert either) to be to try and extricate our troops from that part of the world and make some kind of reparations for the sereral million homeless - either via the United Nations or some direct aid from us... But that won't line the pockets of the KBRs, the BearingPoints, the Saudis, the Bush Family and their buddies - so it'll never happen on the Republican watch.
Posted By: notroubleatall1963 @ 05/01/2008 11:02:39 PM
Comment: When is Carl here going to be proscecuted for his crimes and now a recently uncovered connection with REZKO in Chicago?
Mr. Rove, you are giving advice to all the candidates. It doesn't seem fair that you've got this column when by rights you should be being investigated and perhaps/probably prosecuted. What's up with that? You're a savvy sunofagun but it's kind of depressing that you're in such a prominent role when a black man would have been jailed for what you (allegedly) did by now.