McCain trasladará la batalla al Capitolio

Nos cuentan en Politico que el Capitolio será uno de los marcos de la estrategia electoral del Senador John McCain. El candidato ha designado a una persona para que coordine su esfuerzo de campaña y la actividad legislativa de los republicanos del Congreso. El objetivo no será aprobar leyes, sino forzar votaciones sobre asuntos delicados, obligando al adversario, también Senador en ejercicio, a tener que pronunciarse en la práctica sobre asuntos como la Seguridad Nacional o los impuestos, que lo retraten ante los electores. Ya se hizo con Kerry en 2004. McCain's (congressional) campaign plan

(...) Presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain has engaged a leading GOP lobbyist to coordinate his message and travel schedule with congressional Republicans — the most concrete sign yet that the biggest battleground in the 2008 presidential race may not be Pennsylvania or Ohio or Florida’s I-4 corridor but rather the floor of the United States Senate.

John Green, a founding partner of what is now Ogilvy Government Relations, will soon take a leave of absence from that firm to work as a full-time liaison between McCain’s presidential campaign and Republicans in the House and the Senate, according to GOP aides on Capitol Hill and McCain surrogates downtown. Green, a Mississippi native, has strong ties in the Senate after his years of work for former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), a vocal McCain supporter who left Congress late last year to set up his own lobbying shop.

Green is part of a small cadre of lobbyists who have met regularly to help build support for McCain on Capitol Hill. The group, which includes fellow Ogilvy partner Wayne Berman, has been helping the senator secure congressional endorsements in recent weeks to ensure he solidifies his status as the GOP front-runner.

(...) With two senators in the race — McCain for the Republicans, and either Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama for the Democrats — Senate leaders have a unique opportunity to create both opportunities and pitfalls for their parties’ candidates by forcing votes on taxes, national security, health care and energy. (...)