McCain advisors to meet with House Republican staff Friday
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/04/11/art.mccainhill.ap.jpg caption="McCain's senior staff is headed to the Hill Friday. "]WASHINGTON (CNN) - Senator John McCain's presidential campaign and congressional Republicans are stepping up their efforts to coordinate campaign strategy and political messaging.
McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis and senior policy advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin are scheduled to meet Friday morning on Capitol Hill with the chiefs of staff for all Republican House members, according to several GOP congressional aides.
"This is the campaign generally starting to take on the mantle of the leadership. McCain now becomes the standard bearer of the Republican message," Sean Noble, campaign spokesman for Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., one of McCain's early Hill supporters, told CNN.
Noble said he expected McCain campaign officials to lay out where the candidate will campaign in the coming weeks, what themes he'll be hitting, and what the fundraising targets are. Noble also said the meeting would give senior staff of House Republicans who backed McCain's primary rivals a chance to meet the top staff members of McCain's campaign.
Noble noted it wasn't that long ago that McCain could only count on a handful of GOP Hill supporters to carry his message.
"Now he can reach out to essentially the entire House Republican Conference to serve as surrogates," he said.
One congressional aide said senior Republicans have already been coordinating with the McCain campaign, including regular communication among Davis, senior McCain advisor Charlie Black and senior Hill staff.
The McCain campaign recently enlisted John Green, a lobbyist and former aide to retired Senator Trent Lott, R-Miss, to lead Congressional outreach efforts.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Oh, acts as the liaison for the campaign to House Republicans and Senator Jon Kyl, R-Ariz, is the liaison to Senate Republicans. But the aide said, "coordination has ramped up just in the last couple of weeks."
Another source downplayed the significance of Friday's meeting, saying most of the information would be "scripted and generic" message coordination, but said it was valuable as "an initial touch of gloves for rank and file Members."
Boehner's spokesman Michael Steel said that Republicans see the value of McCain's ability to reach out to independents.
"People are increasingly enthusiastic about how much he'll help in the fall," Steel said.
GOP aides pointed to April 15th, tax day, as a natural opportunity for McCain and Hill Republicans to work together to highlight differences with Democrats on economic policy.
Boehner announced Thursday that Republicans will argue on the House floor next week that Democrats support "the biggest tax increase in American history" by not extending President Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts.
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Uncle Sam,
Exactly how is McCain going to change anything when he wants to continue the war in Irag, not knowing who the enemy is, no knowledge of the economy or anything else outside to war. He will be just as Bush is, some yahoo pulling the strings in the background like Cheney-Rove-Rumsfeld did and using the same people as Bush is not "change" it is "more of the same".
Stop looking at the dot and look at the entire picture.
McCain now becomes the standard bearer of the Republican Party.
Get out the cue cards, because he is not so good at hiding that he
is always reading the cue cards? And What's the boring message
ror today. Columbian Free Trade Deal? The get all upset over pleasing the Columbians but don't care much about the people that
elected them.
I do not understand in what right mind would people vote for MCCain, he has the same views as Bush that will keep this country in recession for 4 more years. Who cares if he served in the military, that dosen't make you a good leader to run this country. America needs to wake up and stop putting the same old tired guys in the white house with their same old tired views, we need some fresh eyes to see that this country move forward, and not someone who is afraid to talk to our enemies.
Obama 08
I have already ruled out Hillary and McCain
Obama all the way
You go Boy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Despite the best efforts of Howard Dean and company to smear the good name of Sen. McCain, the Americans have had a lifetime to get to know the man John McCain is and they like what they see. Even his critics begrudgingly acknowledge that he is not your typical politician and will place the interests of our country over partisan orthodoxy. This is the change Americans are looking for in their next president. Sen. John McCain is the American president Americans have been waiting for. We are just now beginning to realize it.
Americans for McCain '08
j mccain was a good man for the usa did his duty well .he could have been a great pres 8 years ago, however he is way too old for this job he is you can see this when he was in brooklyn ny at a conf he couldnt speak . what if he starts a nuclear war because of a bad dream .he should give way to the new technology no more points and condensor .
I'd like to know what the "proper tax levels" are for individuals.
Each year.. I find fewer deductions...and end up paying more taxes.
If I were able to receive EITC I might get back more than I paid.
Why should I continue to pay higher taxes so people can get more than they paid back from Uncle Blank Check.
SEND A CLEAR MESSAGE ... DON'T VOTE FOR ANY OF THESE THREE LOOK ALIKES.
McCain doesn't have to plan an immigration reform ... THEY ALL NEED TO HONOR THE U.S. CONSTITUTION AND ENFORCE THE LAWS IN PLACE. We don't change CONSTITUTION just because invaders and their filthy rich sponsors don't like it !!!
If Obama is the democratic nominee – YOU ARE MY MAN JOHN!!
Obama is a disaster waiting to happen and I can wait to vote against him. He really should think about that vow of silence, the world would be a better place.
If not Clinton, McCain in '08!!
I Despise Obama and all of his wingnut supporters. Hopefully after he gets beat he will slink away never to be seen or heard from again and with any luck he will take his slimeball supporters with him!!
oh course he is meeting with his younger brother to try to figure out how to distance himself from the negative nasty things the white house has for the last 8 years this meeting though is a tactical mistake for his campaign it will be highlighted in the GE.
I have to note i saw all 3 candidates make a small thank you speech on American idol last night and the 2 democrats spoke of the great charity money raise and what good it is doing around the world Mc Same used the brief time to slam the democrats for the GOP silencing the votes in MI and FL and then announced his new economic policy he went straight to politics and never really mentioned the charity truly sad. he sunk almost as low as clinton in her web of lies
It's easy to tell when people are short on intelligence when all they can utter is "McSame" and "another Bush term".
I hope you people aren't old enough to vote
McCain is a fraud, a whiny crybaby and a cheat. He will say anything to anyone anywhere at anytime to get a vote. The two-faced grandpa has flip flopped so many times he himself doesn't know where he stands on the issues. This man has lots and lots of explaining to do.
We all know what the "Republican message" is: War, fear tactics, corruption and lies. Nothing has changed in almost 7 years, and McSame, I am sure, will continue to bring this message to the American people.
Looks like the GOP is in panic mode to me.....
SEN MCCAIN IS A DOER. HE HAS BEEN CALLED A 'MAVERICK' BECAUSE HE IS HIS OWN MAN, AND STICKS TO WHAT HE BELIEVES EVEN IF IT IS NOT THE PARTY LINE. THIS IS MUCH LIKE HARRY TRUMAN WHO WAS VILLIFIED BY HIS OWN PARTY WHILE HE WAS PRESIDENT, BUT WHO IS NOW REGARDED AS THE BRAVEST (DROPPED "THE BOMB" TO END WW-II) AND MOST STEADFAST PRESIDENT OF THE 20TH CENTURY. MCCAIN WILL BE A GREAT PRESIDENT. CITIZENS SHOULD GET BEHIND HIM, KNOWING HE HAS OUR COUNTRY'S GOOD IN HIS HEART AS HE HAS SHOWN ALL HIS PUBLIC LIFE.
I really hope that none of the candidates resort to a smear campaign. We are bigger than this.
Obama 08
John McCain is backed by Lush Limburger and his "Operation Chaos" henchmen.
To the GOP: Please No More War...Stop Bankrupting our Country
"In other news, leftist billionaire George Soros has cut a check for a $40 million television smear campaign against John McCain."
Fortunately... the truth will always be the truth, and a reference to smearing means just about nothing. If we call spreading the truth about John McCain smearing, then we are as pathetic as the Clintons, the Bushes, the Roves, the Lyndon Johnsons, the Richard Nixons of the world.
Democrats and republicans alike know what this idiot stands for.
The more I look at Obama the more I realize he is a racist for going to a separatist church. Also when i listen to his wife I realize she does not like this country that have given her the greatest opportunity in the world – freedom. How can you raise your children in a separatist atmosphere and try and fool the rest of the people you are not a black separatist.?
Barack speaks a good game because he is a camelian and never let his true intentions be known.
Don't get ready to move in yet Mr. McCain? You will be defeated!!!!
Maybe they can sit down with McCain and explain who is fighting who in Iraq, and which side we are on, on a day by day basis.
"Restoring the proper tax levels aren't a tax increase; they are a return to normalcy. "
All the rich folks like me who benefit from the 10% and 15% brackets and all the rich young couples who benefit from the increased per child exemptions totally agree with this statement.
"I have to note i saw all 3 candidates make a small thank you speech on American idol last night and the 2 democrats spoke of the great charity money raise and what good it is doing around the world Mc Same used the brief time to slam the democrats for the GOP silencing the votes in MI and FL and then announced his new economic policy he went straight to politics and never really mentioned the charity truly sad. he sunk almost as low as clinton in her web of lies"
It's called humor, and I'm starting to think that some Obama supporters seem to lack it. Actually, McCain has gotten some props in the reviews I've seen for attempting to be funny. The American Idol spots are just part of the ridiculousness that is American Presidential politics, and I'm glad that at least one of the candidates is able to find some humor in it.
I won't want vote for untested candidate
My vote for Hillary or Mc Cain
It's a simple choice in the fall.
One between McCian on the one hand, a Lennenist/a fascist or both of them on the other.