Monday, January 22, 2007

Candidate Crib Sheet

Frank Luntz prescribes what each candidate for President should be saying:


Hillary Clinton: "She needs to show more empathy for the people she wants to represent. Voters think she's too cold and calculating."

Barack Obama: "Out with the sound-bites and in with the stories. He's a natural, but if he starts sounding like a politician, he'll sink like a stone."

John Edwards: "Edwards is the best on his feet of any candidate because of his courtroom training, but it's rehearsed spontaneity. The American people are not a jury."

Joe Biden: "Showcase his intellect, not his rhetoric. Short bursts of solutions are more effective than the longer soliloquies."

John McCain: "He needs to articulate 'The McCain Doctrine' now that people think he has one. 'Reform' applies to national security, not just federal spending."

Rudy Giuliani: "Times Square and 42nd Street is just as important as 9/11. Everyone knows why he became America's Mayor. They need to be reminded that he was also America's Top Cop."

Mitt Romney: "His career outside politics should be the source of his anecdotes. Competence didn't sell in 1988, but there's a market for it in 2008."

Newt Gingrich: "Participate in every possible candidate debate and forum. The most intellectual and visionary of all the candidates, when he talks about the future, you can almost taste it."

Do you ever get the sense that maybe - just maybe - the horse race is elevated above actual leadership qualities?

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