Blogs and Stories
A Former Top McCain Aide Plots Palin's Presidential Path
John McCain’s former campaign manager has advice for Sarah Palin that could lead to the Republican nomination in 2012.
John McCain's former campaign manager Terry Nelson says that if Sarah Palin plans to run for president, she should follow Barack Obama's example and seize on her momentum. Nelson suggests she take a shot at the presidency in 2012.
"Republicans are very interested in her, and some very excited by her," Nelson told The Daily Beast. "I'd say strike when the iron is hot."
Nelson, who was the political director of the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign in 2004, served as McCain's campaign manager until he was forced to resign in a staff shakeup last summer. While he says he is not (yet) plotting Palin's ascension, he can see a clear path for her to take the Republican nomination in 2012.
"Republicans are very interested in her, and some very excited by her," Nelson says. "I'd say strike when the iron is hot."
Nelson says he would advise Palin to remain as Alaska’s governor while crafting a national profile. She could set up a political action committee or a foundation to champion causes she cares about, like autism and oil drilling. She could also appear on high profile, intelligent talk shows and speaking events, avoiding cable news slots where she might be reduced to a talking head. The goal, Nelson says, is to establish a national image separate from the identity that McCain's handlers crafted for her during the election.
"Any vice presidential candidate is really a creature of the presidential campaign," Nelson explains. Since Americans were introduced to Palin through McCain's lens, she was "not really in a position for an independent identity, like Joe Biden had or Dick Cheney had."
Nelson declined to criticize his former boss's campaign, saying McCain's team made the best decisions they could "given the situation they thought they were in." But in retrospect, he says, McCain's bid was weakened by frequent message shifting as well as a general environment that focused on the economy instead of national security.
"McCain had a difficult time projecting a consistent and compelling vision to voters," Nelson said. "When a party is in this position, oftentimes it's up to the presidential candidate to provide the agenda, but I'm just not sure that John McCain was in a position to provide it."
Nelson says the GOP must reach out to the center to embrace suburban, upper income voters who desire a more nuanced political debate. "We as a party need to find a way to better communicate with those types of voters about what we believe," Nelson said. "I don't think believing that means Sarah Palin couldn't be effective, or that she couldn't speak to that. In this campaign, that demand has not been put on her, so we don't know if she can."
Before joining the Daily Beast, Ross Goldberg worked as a staff reporter on the New York Sun's city desk, where he covered courts as well as general assignments. In college, he served as managing editor of the Yale Daily News.
Stars Celebrate the Super Bowl
The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
How Rich People Smoke Pot
Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
I Was a Victim of Blago's Vendetta
Before joining the Daily Beast, Ross Goldberg worked as a staff reporter on the New York Sun's city desk, where he covered courts as well as general assignments. In college, he served as managing editor of the Yale Daily News.
Taking the Sheen Off Obama
Before joining the Daily Beast, Ross Goldberg worked as a staff reporter on the New York Sun's city desk, where he covered courts as well as general assignments. In college, he served as managing editor of the Yale Daily News.
Finally, Good News for Newspapers
Before joining the Daily Beast, Ross Goldberg worked as a staff reporter on the New York Sun's city desk, where he covered courts as well as general assignments. In college, he served as managing editor of the Yale Daily News.
franksmith
I've voted Republican in every election until this most recent one. If it's true that a significant number of Republicans are excited about Palin's possibility to reach "suburban, upper income voters" then it shows the party will remain in it's collective fantasy world for quite some time. The party needs to change its image and a good start would be to distance itself from Palin -- as far as possible.
milkbone
if Sarah Palin read every book and magazine ever written I don't think she could ever catch up. If's there is such a thing as "15 MINUTES" I hope she's had hers.
sandman
Rondack
The more attention the media pay to this monkey-punchline, the longer she'll hang around. Please stop.
She is a tragic mistake, a cynical dying gasp from the rotting corpse of the Republican party.
Let's all wave goodbye as she floats away, back to the North Country that spewed her onto the "lower 48."
Perhaps a song? (Sung to the tune of "Bye Bye Blackbird" - come on now, with FEELING!)
Juneau's lookin' mighty good
As it should
That's your hood
Bye-bye, Sarah
Africa is far away
So just stay
In AK
Bye-bye, Sarah!
There are many books up there for bannin'
And lots of firings that must need a- plannin'
Take your kids and move along
With a song
Don't take long
Sarah, bye-bye!
Also, also, also, there, there, allllllso
Also, also, there, there, also, allllllso
Put those clothes on Ebay, dear
Don't shed a tear
Have no fear
Bye-bye Sarah!
Keep an eye on Putin's plane
As you explained
He's such a pain
Bye-bye Sarah!
Your shotgun's needin' loadin' soon
For the bride
And the groom
Bye-bye Sarah
No one here can love or understand you,
Oh, what funny stories told about you,
You made your bed and lit the light,
You'll be home late tonight,
Sarah bye-bye.
(big finish)
SARAH BYE BYE!
thibodeaux41
"We as a party need to find a way to better communicate,..."
You Betcha!!
Isn't communication a at-least a two way street? For 30 years The GOP spewed talking points; points devised and put into action by the Rove's of the world. It seems, once Reagan showed them how to act, their platform became staged events for the interest of 1% of the Nation and Kool-Aid for the Ditto Heads that believed the crap (how things like- fear, greed, anti-intellectualism, consumerism, and etc. etc. as part of the American Dream). And it looks like they haven't learned anything from the latest pulse of the Nation. Their going to go all in and loose before the finally wake up to the fact that they've become a regionalized party.
THE 30 -YEAR NIGHTMARE IS OVER!!!!!!
smdunne
Riiiight. All of the other potential Republican nominees are going to just lie down and play dead and let Palin walk all over them.
On what planet does Palin win a debate with Mitt Romney? He will take her apart without even breaking a sweat. Pleeeeease give us a break from all this fantasizing about Palin -- she is a brainless narcissist.
The Beast has given us a Cheat Sheet article about Nancy Pelosi today - what about the same number of original articles which have been posted about a dim bulb like Palin, devoted to a woman like Pelosi who is smart, credible and accomplished?
I doubt that's going to happen though. Palin is polarizing and brings page views. Pelosi is just the most powerful woman in U.S. political history.
It would make more sense to post articles outlining Pelosi's path to a presidential nomination in 2012 since she is more qualified right now than Palin will ever be.
I like TDB and love Tina, but any more Palin nonsense and I'll be reading other sites and skipping the Beast.
dmhouse
All this talk about 2012 is useless. The Obama administration will determine who the Republican nominee is in 2012. If Obama and the democrats in Congress fail to change the direction of the economy, then the conservatives will have a shot and will rally around a candidate like Palin. If the Obama administration is still has popular support in 2012, then the Republicans will try to out Obama Obama. Republicans should face it - their only hope for retuning to power anytime soon is if the country continues to slide into economic ruin, which is something that some (not all) Republicans are hoping for.
klava1985
A lot of the material on this site really isn't living up to the read this/skip that premise. The cheat sheet is good, but the actual writing... ignore Palin already. Fashion--shallow, drop it. Ditto pop stars.
I'm sure the emptiness of some of this reporting shows that the 24-hr news cycle is hard on online venues as well. But there must be something going on somewhere else in the world. Maybe in Canada some guys have come up with a new engine add-on that triples fuel efficiency. Maybe there's some cool new solar technology coming out of Germany. Maybe there's hope for Russia. What are the ties between Georgia's president and the drug trade? How about an analysis of how European countries fund higher education? A little more Atlantic Monthly, a little less People magazine, pls.
chitoiur
I don't quite understand why she would even run in 2012. Yes, she could spin it so that the people think the McCain campaign hid her from view and presented a molded image of her. But still... I do not think she has a real chance.
Lotto1
Klava 1985 is right.
CathyK83
Really? Really? The vast majority of voters I know found her to be an ill-educated, precocious, talking head and now we're deeming her best for the Republican party? The woman is the reason McCain plummeted in the last month of the election. This would be the worst possible mistake the GOP could make. The reason my vote almost swayed was because, if McCain died, this woman would rule my country. Please. We don't want to lose 2012, too.
neandrothal
If we want to see less People-style gossip articles about Sarah Palin, we need to stop clicking on them. (Myself included!) Bring the page views down. From now until whenever she actually returns to the national stage, I hereby swear off clicking on Palin stories on TDB.
P.S. I hope Ross was not making McCain's mistake of conflating autism with Down syndrome, which is what Sarah's son Trig has.
TigerFlask
Sarah Palin is the ddeath of the republican party in my humble opinion. Prior to her arrival on the national stage the GOP was known for many things in the light of the media, conservatism and strong military baking being two of these things, however since SPDay(the day she was vetted) the GOP has been known for it's willingness to ignore even the most obvious of information, and a willingness to shoot itself in the foot. If they are even contemplating thinking about putting her out as the Republican Presidential candidate in 2012 then we can expect Obama's main competition to be one of a third party, possibly Nader..... wait wouldn't more options be better? Now I've typed myself into a paradox.
delljody
She has no choice but to run next time, if she wants to run. She's in the situation Obama was in--now or never. The hype and support will be gone by 2016.
Arm-chair analysts always talk about how young a candidate is, and how they can skip an election and run in 8 years. Or wait for their party's nominee to serve 2 terms, then run next. (Versions of this circulated about both Obama and Clinton.)
It doesn't work that way. There's only a handful of people who even get nominated, let alone win. And there's usually a rough swing from R to D to R to D . A candidate could be cautious and wait 3 or 4 cycles...but the chances are so slim, it's useless.
Go for it, Sarah. First your pea-brain has to survive a brutal primary against Mr. Roboto, Elmer Gantry, Republican Obama from Louisiana, Minnesota Reagan Jr., and the Newt. Then you'll have to swing away from your rabid Dittohead supporters to snag all those moderates/independents you mortified in 2008.
ddemos
As a woman, I would have been thrilled to have a woman represent in the white house, but not any woman, and certainly not THIS woman.
I am so very tired of being embarrassed whenever my leaders open their mouths...especially these past 8 years, and this woman was the epitome of both hubris and stupidity, a lethal combination. She had no idea how much she didn't know. She is so ambitious and ignorantly righteous about" her" country and "her" God that it was so offensive to anyone with a partial brain.
She turned out to be very disingenuous about who she really is, as opposed to who she professed to be. Forget all the superficial cosmetic stuff... her trying to turn parts of our country against each other, and to pander to the lowest common denominator in her party, is what infuriated me. This is how she wanted to introduce herself to the lower 48? We don't know her and she wants to tell me that I am not a "real" American and snark about community organizers with winks and you betcha's? How insulting did she intend to be?
I think she might have realized that that wasn't going to fly.
I resent that after she embarrassed herself, she wouldn't do interviews with anyone but Fox, and now she's everywhere, being the "real cooking show" Sarah. Anyone can see right through this. If she was such a maverick reformer, she would have shown the American public who she was from the beginning. However, what she's too dense to realize, is both versions are equally distasteful and terrifying to apparently anyone outside of the rural south. These are just but a few reasons why she shouldn't run...the list goes on...
Please, Wasilla, keep her there until she actually completes the legendary pipeline to save us from oil-independence, (should keep her busy for at least a decade). Please let's hope she learns how to blink, for all our sakes.
hoosierbrad
Hey, maybe she could write a couple of non-fiction autobiographical books like Obama.
Wait; maybe she should READ a couple of books, first.
Thank you.
As a first time user, your comment has been submitted for review. It can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or two for your comment to be reviewed, depending on the time of week and the volume of comments we receive.