The Final Push

We're entering the final week and a half of the 2012 Senate election. At this point, the respective campaigns have set their final strategies and are going all in with either confidence or prayerful audacity. If the campaigns want to make any final changes, introduce any new messages or refashion any images, now is their last chance.

Claire McCaskill has consistently stuck to the "middle": the middle class and the middle of the road ideologically. In a state that has pulled all state-wide campaigns farther to the right, Democrats have been forced to claim the middle (not necessarily a terrible political fate). So far, the campaign has proved successful:

 - According to The Kansas City Star, McCaskill has raised $15.8 million through September, far outpacing Akin's $3.8 million. Akin's mistakes have, according to the newspaper, cost the candidate about $10 million. Claire has drawn lots of money from outside groups, as a steady and confident campaign has kept donors interested and invested.

- The McCaskill campaign, according to Ozarskfirst.com, recently made a final push for the middle class vote, producing three new campaign videos featuring Missouri voters pointing out the flaws in Akin's opposition to Social Security and raising the minimum wage. They are, according to McCaskill campaign manager Adrianne Marsh, "the kinds of conversations we're having across the state." The ads are smart attempts to localize McCaskill, attack Akin without it coming from the campaign itself, and reinforce her middle class empathy.
Claire on the Air has pointed out its ideological frustrations with Claire's move to the middle, supporting caps on federal spending and the Keystone pipeline. However, so far her rhetorical campaign has been spot-on. She has seemed to convince the Missouri voters willing to listen that she is the most reasonable candidate, though her opponent has done little to disprove that. We have a few rhetorical recommendations for her final push that will hopefully secure the victory.

• Push Akin to the extreme end of the spectrum as much as possible. Link him to incendiary phrasing, like "privatize," "abolish," and "criminalize." 
• Keep Claire as palatable as possible. Don't try to cater her message to too many interest groups or constituencies. So far, she's been the populist candidate, listening to rather than lecturing to Missouri voters. She's been the Harry Truman, the Main Street, no-nonsense candidate.
• Don't rhetorically distance yourself from Democrats too much. Democratic Senators who alienate themselves from the party put themselves in a pinch: they either make it harder to work with the more liberal members of the party or they risk hypocrisy when later campaign attacks bring up her paradoxical involvement with the liberal party. 
• Finally, let the attacks speak for themselves. Negative campaigning can only turn off voters at this point. Akin has put enough out there himself to sink his own campaign. 

 Good luck Claire!