By Christopher Coffey
Republican Political Consultant

Message Disorder. There was no message discipline coming from the McCain campaign.  They jumped from silly issue to silly issue like distracted television viewers clicking from channel to channel, while ignoring the economy and financial panic.

Old Battle Plans. The McCain staff was working off the Bush/Cheney ’04 battle plan and seldom deviated.  This worked well four years ago when security was the foremost issue and Kerry was the opponent, but not in an election where the economy mattered and Obama was the Democratic nominee.

George W. Bush. McCain could not entirely escape W’s abysmal approval ratings.

Obama Won. Senator Obama is a truly disciplined campaigner.  He never veered from his core message of change. He and his staffers deserve credit for a brilliantly managed campaign.

Self-Serving Campaign. The McCain campaign secreted its candidates and promoted its top advisor.  This was the only consistent message.  From Newsweek to The New York Times, story after story highlighted the resume of a McCain top adviser. Eventually, the coverage read like an old 25 cent comic book: This adviser was “The Bullet,” an ultimate fighter who once saved a party full of people from a burning home. While these stories provided countless reasons to hire McCain’s strategist, they gave us few reasons to vote for McCain.  Consultants must never take ink away from their principals.  McCain’s campaign did this regularly and wasted precious earned media.