McCain's Different Campaign

Jonathan Martin at Politico has a piece up about the different kind of campaign that McCain plans to run:

For reasons of financial necessity, personal preference and plain politics, John McCain is gearing up to run one of the least traditional presidential campaigns in recent history.

The problem is that even prominent strategists within McCain’s own party wonder if his unorthodox strategy will work.

Facing the prospect of competing against a Democrat who is on track to shatter every fundraising record – and confronted by his own inability to rake in large bundles of cash – McCain and his key advisers have largely been forced into devising a three-prong strategy that they hope can turn their general election weaknesses into strengths.

McCain will lean heavily on the well-funded Republican National Committee. He will merge key functions of his campaign hierarchy with the RNC, while also relying on an unconventional structure of 10 regional campaign mangers.

And finally – and perhaps most importantly – McCain will rely on free media to an unprecedented degree to get out his message in a fashion that aims to not only minimize his financial disadvantage but to also drive a triangulated contrast between himself and the Democratic nominee and President Bush.

McCain advisers acknowledge they have little choice but to seek free entry into the media marketplace, as they have no chance of matching Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton in a dollar-for-dollar ad war, given that the Arizona senator’s fundraising totals pale in comparison to both his prospective opponents and the Bush-Cheney political machine.

But aides also hope they can turn necessity into virtue and argue that by facing tough questions from reporters on his bus each day and potentially even tougher ones from audience members at frequent town hall meetings, McCain will demonstrate how he’s different from two politicians who are far less accessible.

McCain is a media hound and is not afraid to take as many questions as the press wants to ask. There is a risk, of course, of makeing a mistake or geting a little testy with the press (as McCain has done), but he's probably more likely to get favoriable press coverage if he shows the press he's willing to work with them.

Obama, on the other hand, has a glass jaw when it comes to the tough questions and his handlers will keep him away from the press whenever possible. The debate showed some serious weaknesses on the character issues, and if he thinks his complaints will stop the press from asking those questions, he clearly doesn't understand the process.

The question is whether voters will feel they know and understand McCain better because of his constant press contacts and will thus feel more comfortable putting him in charge of the country.