WASHINGTON — A group of high-profile Republican strategists is working with a conservative billionaire on a proposal to mount one of the most provocative campaigns of the “super PAC” era and attack President Obama in ways that Republicans have so far shied away from.
Timed to upend the Democratic National Convention in September, the plan
would “do exactly what John McCain would not let us do,” the
strategists wrote.
The plan,
which is awaiting approval, calls for running commercials linking Mr.
Obama to incendiary comments by his former spiritual adviser, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., whose race-related sermons made him a highly charged figure in the 2008 campaign.
“The world is about to see Jeremiah Wright and understand his influence on Barack Obama
for the first time in a big, attention-arresting way,” says the
proposal, which was overseen by Fred Davis and commissioned by Joe
Ricketts, the founder of the brokerage firm TD Ameritrade. Mr. Ricketts
is increasingly putting his fortune to work in conservative politics.
The $10 million plan, one of several being studied by Mr. Ricketts,
includes preparations for how to respond to the charges of race-baiting
it envisions if it highlights Mr. Obama’s former ties to Mr. Wright, who
espouses what is known as “black liberation theology.”
The group suggested hiring as a spokesman an “extremely literate
conservative African-American” who can argue that Mr. Obama misled the
nation by presenting himself as what the proposal calls a “metrosexual,
black Abe Lincoln.”
A copy of a detailed advertising plan was obtained by The New York Times
through a person not connected to the proposal who was alarmed by its
tone. It is titled “The Defeat of Barack Hussein Obama: The Ricketts
Plan to End His Spending for Good.”
The proposal was presented last week in Chicago to associates and family
members of Mr. Ricketts, who is also the patriarch of the family that
owns the Chicago Cubs.
Brian Baker, president and general counsel of a super PAC called the
Ending Spending Action Fund, said Mr. Ricketts had studied several
advertising proposals in recent months and had not signed off on a
specific approach to taking on Mr. Obama.
“Joe Ricketts is prepared to spend significant resources in the 2012
election in both the presidential race and Congressional races,” Mr.
Baker said in an interview Wednesday. “He is very concerned about the
future direction of the country and plans to take a stand.”
The document makes clear that the effort is only in the planning stages
and awaiting full approval from Mr. Ricketts. People involved in the
planning said the publicity now certain to surround it could send the
strategists back to the drawing board.
But it serves as a rare, detailed look at the birth of the sort of
political sneak attack that has traditionally been hatched in the
shadows and has become a staple of presidential politics.
It also shows how a single individual can create his own movement and
spend unlimited sums to have major influence on a presidential election
in a campaign finance environment in which groups operating
independently of candidates are flourishing.
Should the plan proceed, it would run counter to the strategy being
employed by Mitt Romney’s team, which has so far avoided such attacks.
The Romney campaign has sought to focus attention on the economy, and
has concluded that personal attacks on Mr. Obama, who is still well
liked personally by most independent voters surveyed for polls, could
backfire.
Mr. Ricketts has become an increasingly active player in Republican
politics through several political action committees, including Ending
Spending. He has a son, Pete, who is a member of the Republican National
Committee from Nebraska and a daughter, Laura, who is a top contributor
to Mr. Obama’s re-election campaign. She has not been involved in her
father’s political efforts.
The 54-page proposal was professionally bound and illustrated with color
photographs, indicating that it is far beyond a mere discussion. The
strategists have already contacted Larry Elder, a black conservative
radio host in Los Angeles, about serving as a spokesman, and the plan
calls for a group of black business leaders to endorse the effort. The
strategists have also registered a domain name, Character Matters.
Read the Rest of the article at the NEW YORK TIMES here - http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/17/us/politics/gop-super-pac-weighs-hard-line-attack-on-obama.html?_r=1
