James Webb:
Make your campaign mean something

The latest Virginia political news has Former Navy Secretary James Webb, a Republican-turned-Democrat and critic of the Iraq war, running for the U.S. Senate against U.S. Sen. George Allen, a man he once endorsed. For those not familiar with Mr. Webb, I refer you to his Web site -- built in FrontPage no less! -- or the local bookstore, where you'll find a number of his fine books.

What follows is a one-hand memo (five points or less) for Mr. Webb if he wants to cut through the political clutter and score an upset win.

Appreciate the widely held perception that the Democratic party is brain dead and move to the head of the pack by presenting clear, forceful ideas.

The trick is to use concrete examples to illustrate both large points and personal cred, namely, that you get it. Here's an example. Ask most people if it's legal for a business to run two sets of books. Overwhelmingly, they will say no. Yet in American corporate law, it's not only legal, it's an accepted practice. Corporations produce one set of numbers for shareholders (that maximize profits) and another set for the IRS (to minimize profits and therefore taxes). More incredibly still, the corporate tax returns are never made public. Be in favor of changing that.

The over-riding issue out here in the real world is not the Iraq war but the idea that both parties in Washington are corrupt and that government doesn't work for the people anymore.

A sitting U.S. Senator has to raise $30,000 a week for his re-election, and that lobbyist money is the source of most perceived corruption. Tell the people of Virginia that after you are elected, you will raise no money at all for four years, that you are going to Washington to work, not grub for money.

Don't run against conservative Republican ideals, run against the idea that conservative Republican ideals don't match the facts on the ground.

It's standard conservative thinking that government shouldn't interfere with businesses or markets, yet real-life shows it's just the opposite -- huge business interests lobbying Washington for their advantage. In terms of gasoline at the pump, the free market isn't really that free: oil companies have kept refining capacity down because it protects their profits. Always make a distinction between the standard hollow rhetoric (cutting the deficit in half) and the facts on the ground (China is on its way to owning us).

Conservative blue-collar voters have been distracted by wedge issues to vote against their own economic interests; they will not move your way unless they feel it's safe for them to do -- or unsafe for them not to do so. In looming issue after looming issue, America is woefully unprepared, and that might be more important than two lesbians getting married. It's not about selling hope or fear; it's about selling both. It depends on the issue.

Don't try to refute the Bush Administation on Iraq, try to reframe the entire issue.

Karl Rove's political genius really shines through on equating any sort of withdrawal with defeat. The idea here is for you to praise the military and get across the point it has done all it can do and that it's time to come home. Iraq is going to descend into chaos and civil war whether we are there or not. You'll be bolstered in this position when civil war erupts in the Palestinian territories by mid-summer. The mood of Americans outside the Beltway, those watching this current Muslim cartoon violence, can be summed up in a word -- disengagement.

Mr. Webb, it is indeed like you said years ago -- it's not a question of deposing Saddam Hussein, it's a question of whether America wants to be an occupying power in the Middle East for 30 years.

Politicians may be leery of the high price of certain political actions, but the high price of inaction is being paid for by the voters.

There's no better example of this than health care. Whatever your opinion of Hillary Clinton's failed health care plan, the fact that nothing has been done on this issue for more than a decade has had ruinous consequences. It's pretty simple really: if the current lawmakers aren't willing to tackle tough issues, then it's time to vote in a new batch.

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James Carville was an unemployed 47-year-old nobody before the 1992 presidential campaign. The author is 48, between jobs, and fighting that nobody feeling by thinking about big ideas from an Ikea chair in Virginia Beach.

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