Follow McDonnell, Not Hoffman
Bob McDonnell’s win in the Virginia governor’s race is the model the GOP should follow if it wants to recapture the political stage and ignite the party in 2010 and 2012.
McDonnell ran a smart campaign which appealed to all types of voters and had that big tent feel. He focused on the issues facing residents: taxes, jobs and transportation. Virginians didn’t want to hear about polarizing social issues like abortion and gay marriage, so McDonnell didn’t inject them into his campaign. It paid off handsomely. McDonnell took most of Northern Virginia, winning votes in Prince William and Loudon counties after five years of Democratic rule. And for the first time since 1997, Fairfax county supported a Republican candidate for governor.
McDonnell was deft in his minority outreach, which included blacks, Asians and Hispanics. McDonnell said no thanks to Sarah Palin's offer to endorse him and got Shelia Johnson, long-time black Democrat donor and billionaire to support him and even appear in ads endorsing him. Early in the year, Johnson had an uncomfortable meeting with Deeds in her home, asking him to strongly come out against unions, he wasn't interested in her perspective. So, she turned to McDonnell.
He didn’t bash or disparage the president as a person or declare he was the purest Republican of them all or flex his “good conservative credentials.” McDonnell ran his campaign like a gentleman, stuck to the issues and it paid off. As a result, 66% of independent voters followed him.
McDonnell realized radical campaigns on the left or the right aren’t the formula for future political success. Several polls reveal Americans growing ennui with both parties and a rise in independent voters. A Washington Post/ABC News survey released in October found that 42% of Americans identify as independents compared with 33% as Democrats and 20% as Republicans.
An absolutely wrong campaign model for the party to follow would be the Doug Hoffman/New York way. Hoffman showed “no grasp of issues” according to one of the local papers but unlike Scozzafava passed the litmus test on being a conservative because he is pro-life and against gay marriage. Result: one more Democrat under Nancy Pelosi’s leadership.
If the GOP wants to win again, it should follow the McDonnell example, not Hoffman’s.