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February 21, 2007
The Ugliness Begins
The likely moving up of the 2008 presidential primaries to early February in states like California, Florida, New Jersey, and possibly Texas means the nominations in both major parties may well be over by this time next year. Hence the alarmingly early and intense campaigning to date for both the Democratic and Republican nominations. And when major campaigns with high stakes begin, negativity is not far behind.
Yesterday we wrote about GOP hopeful Mitt Romney's opening attacks on rival Arizona Senator John McCain on abortion. This early attack involves some risk, considering that Romney has his own history of changing his position on this divisive issue, but the Romney camp may have judged that since their candidate, McCain and Rudy Giuliani -- the three early GOP frontrunners -- all have potential vulnerability here, it may be beneficial to turn it into a wash by making that known.
Today, Senator McCain sparred with the Bush White House -- specifically Vice President Dick Cheney -- over recently departed Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's place in history. Cheney predictably fought back, creating add tension to an already testy relationship between the administration and the President Bush's onetime opponent.
Fireworks have erupted on the Democratic side as well. Hollywood mogul and onetime Bill Clinton supporter David Geffen, who is supporting Barack Obama for president, took several potshots at his former friends and beneficiaries of his largesse, the Clintons, in a recent Maureen Dowd column in the New York Times.
Clinton's team responded rapidly, and in our judgment, heavy-handedly, demanding Obama repudiate Geffen and his comments. Obama has kept his cool, refusing to get in the middle of a fight between the Clintons and their former friend. The young, relatively inexperienced Obama has looked like the unflappable old pol in the situation so far, compared to the more seasoned Clinton team.
Such negativity so early in a presidential election is unusual and potentially risky. Most voters know little about the candidates and won't vote for quite sometime. These early skirmishes could leave a bad taste in their mouths. Patrick Healy and Jim Rutenberg proivde an excellent rundown in Thursday's Times.
Posted by houtopia at February 21, 2007 11:04 PM