The power of candidate branding

Now, let's contrast these Romney and Clinton announcements with McCain and Obama.

Here's an excerpt from McCain's April announcement:

"I'm not running for President to be somebody, but to do something; to do the hard but necessary things not the easy and needless things. I'm running for President to protect our country from harm and defeat its enemies. I'm running for President to make the government do its job, not your job; to do it with less and to do it better. I'm not running to leave our biggest problems to an unluckier generation of leaders, but to fix them now, and fix them well."

McCain's saying much of the same thing now; nothing's changed in his rationale for a run; it's experience and grit and straight talk. The only time McCain's hit bumps in the road is when he was trying to veer from his core brand, when he tried to become the establishment candidate, he bombed; Now, he's back to being "McCain Classic."

"New McCain" didn't sell and to McCain's credit, just like Coke, he tossed that brand aside and re-pitched the classic.

And here's an excerpt from Obama's announcement speech; in fact, it's the second paragraph:

"We all made this journey for a reason. It's humbling, but in my heart I know you didn't come here just for me, you came here because you believe in what this country can be. In the face of war, you believe there can be peace. In the face of despair, you believe there can be hope. In the face of a politics that's shut you out, that's told you to settle, that's divided us for too long, you believe we can be one people, reaching for what's possible, building that more perfect union."

He said this in February and could have easily have said this today in Nashua, N.H.

I accept the fact that this is an easy Monday morning quarterbacking-like column to write, but it's amazing how much one can learn about the ability of candidate to keep their brand by examining what they said at the start of this race and what they are saying now.

No doubt a good politician can react to events of the day but not in the absence of their core rationale for their candidacy.

Clinton never really offered one; Romney offered one but immediately veered from it in the intervening months and is only now trying to go back to that intial brand idea. Meanwhile, what McCain and Obama said they would do and be at the start of this campaign is what they said six months ago, six weeks ago, six days ago and six hours ago.

Picking the president: The candidates Click to visit that candidate's MSNBC page or click the XML symbol for an RSS feed. John McCain                Barack Obama

MORE FROM POLITICS

Politics Section Front

Senate Democrats seek to seal health care overhaul NYT analysis: Obama accepts ‘pyrrhic victories’ Abortion language is latest health hurdle Senate passes critical Pentagon budget bill Potential Reid opponent has deep pockets Analysis: Obama takes pragmatic climate path Pa. assembly corruption probe nears critical phase Reid confident in revised health bill Liberal MoveOn.org opposes Senate health bill Wrap-up bill clears Senate hurdle Politics Section Front   Add Politics headlines to your news reader: