3 (30 [08 Strategy Session Overview ~ Sunday March 30, 2008 Path to Victory Win PA, WV, KY, PR Perform well in OR, NC, SD, MONT, GUAM Pick up 25 Delegates Resolve or Revote MI, FL to close at least 30 Delegates including Supers Be ahead in Popular Vote inc. Ml and FL Be ahead in delegates from primaries (his lead will be entirely from caucuses). Be ahead of him against McCain (why we will contrast with McCain on ec, Iraq] Increase concern about what he would do to Congressional Races (trying test now in white ural districts 9. Will have won every big state and have coalition of Catholics, working class, Latinos, and women — the key electorates. 10. Super-delegates must see Obama as a doomsday scenario to vote en masse for HRC Hillary must be seen as the one who can beat John McCain because she is ready to be commander in chief and manage the economy, and has the coalition of voters and states that will spell victory. Obama must be vetted on Wright, Rezko, National Security, and exposed for Just Words ~ his record of not showing the leadership or judgment he has projected on Iraq, Afghanistan, in the State Senate, or the U.S. Senate. Not someone who will be able to beat John McCain as Independents and Republicans learn more about him and all his positions. Does anyone believe itis possible to win the nomination without, over these two months, raising all these issues on him? A “nice” campaign that wins the states alone that can be won - will that be enough or do serious issues have to be raised about him? !F you believe that serious issues need to be raised then we have to raise them without continual hesitation and we should be pushing the envelope. Won’t a single tape of Wright going off on ‘America with Obama sitting there be a game ender? Many people (Peter Hart excluded) believe under the surface that 20 years sitting there with Goddamn America would make him unelectable by itself. What does that say about his leadership that he never left or complained? What would other presidents have done? Will he sit there and listen to the 5 dictators? No one believes he believes in these things ~ the question is why he lied about it all like he did with Rezko, and what it says about his judgment and leadership. And what do these relationships say about his willingness to wheel and deal for political gain? In contrast HRC has stood up for what is right all her life, even when it was costly. We have to build this last point in the messaging now. And perhaps the value of the women’s speech or another speech on this value could show how HRC has never hesitated to condemn or walk out on it. Women’s Right are Human Rights is the quintessential example of that.But the strategic decision is whether to be doing only what it takes to win the key states or whether it {sa fundamental part of winning the nomination for him to lose his luster? ‘The Campaign Campaign is operating at two levels ~ the campaigns in the states and the national campaign, and the rational campaign has two parts ~ a campaign about the process and about the substance. A. State Campaigns We start off wel positioned in PA, KY, WV, and possibly PR. IND is uphill bit winnable. Oregon and especially NC represent challenges. We have adopted a master strategy of being about the right leadership for a better future. That tcacership is exemplified by being a better commander in chief and manager of the economy during {wo wars anda recession. The plan is to give meaning and salience to these natural advantages we have 3 am made commander in chief count as it did earlier in the campaign — but the voters had forgotten about it. We need to get the economy up to the same level of salience — trying perhaps to Place the primary edge against McCain on this. And in almost al ofthese states core economic messages ~ take $55 billion from the special interests, create new energy and in-sourced jobs, deal with the housing and credit emergency. They are looking as well or a fighter, doer and a champion Someone with the strength to make it all happen. ‘There are specific targets and variations by state but the basic outline is the same ~ I would say the exception would be Oregon and there we should take the last Krugman column and show that she is the real progressive in the race (that probably would also make a good mailer to upper income lems). Her plans and record are far bolder and we should get aut there and package them together Just as $55 billion from special interests is so much more powerful than any of the pieces, so is her Iietime of progressive work for causes big and small and her plans for the future. We have never ‘made this case in a serious way — we have just picked out healthcare. And the humanity ofthis leadership is shown when she appears on a range of alternate TV shows, Sports radio in PA, Leno, etc. Itis also shown when we do events like the Appalachia poverty tour At the same time we need to reflect her roll up your sleeves, wonkish fix the problems with substance and thinking in a series of summits on Economy, Education, Environment, National Security, Itis not either or ~ these are all different dimensions of her leadership that reflect who she ‘sand the kind of president she willbe. The contrast isto his empty promises style ~ something he is trying to shake off but is at the core of what people see in him,B. National Camp: In terms of the national campaign we want to leverage the core events of summits, alternative TV, key moments in the campaign and the debates to show she is not only in this race, but the one we can turn to for the leadership we need on national security and the economy. We want these basic messages to breakthrough. We also need to look for ways that put her at the forefront of key national debates — the role of women, the role of the presidency, reform on Wall Street, reforming the military, dealing with the big global problems. We probably have not done enough thinking on these lines. Patreus hearing is coming up. Immediate items on the table a) Speech on the progress of women at end of women’s history month b) Speech on the role of the presidency (need for an activist, patriotic, fighter and reformer), ‘We should be looking for, not avoiding opportunities to be in the national and even international dialogue, C. The campaign about the campaign Here we are not winning as they paint us as negative, and have a chorus of people calling for us to pull out. Of course Obama says we can stay in, just his carefully timed surrogates ~ a typical operation of theirs. We have been fighting back on all of this with regular calls and surrogates. ‘We can try to strike back on the negativity with an ad that exposes all his hypocrisy once and for all- that shows all the words of him and his advisers and surrogates that have constituted negative personal attacks. This could be a good free press play. Calling for us to get out may backfire — our response is that he is trying to shut down the process and prevent people from voting. This is being carried by the candidate ~ in an ideal world we need one or more high level surrogates or spokesperson to take this on full time. We have a job to do on the caucuses and on his trying to disenfranchise millions and build his nomination entirely on these flawed, uncontrolled and low turnout caucuses compared to the primaries. So where we have to go with the campaign about the campaign’ They are engaging in character attacks They are trying to disenfranchise millions of Democrats,