Media Matters: Expectations Game Edition

Over the past two fundraising quarters, the Obama campaign has far outpaced the Clinton campaign in fudraising, despite its lower stature in national polls. The Obama campaign has been using this fact as a means to downplay Clinton's frontrunner status, arguing that the campaign's fiscal health would allow it to compete on Tsunami Tuesday (when most primary races will occur) on a level unattainable for Clinton.

Last week, it seemed like the Obama campaign would get to keep making this argument. That's before the Clinton campaign successfully managed a textbook execution of the expectations game. For over a week now, the Clinton campaign has been insisting that it would raise between $17-$20 billion during this fundraising quarter. When the Obama campaign announced that it raised $20 billion this quarter, Clinton's spokespeople claimed the best they could hope for would be that the two campaigns would draw even for the quarter.

Then, SURPRISE! Clinton raised $27 billion ($22 billion for the primary). Now the campaign has achieved something even better than a cash advantage for this quarter: process stories. Instead of talking about the intricacies of policy, the press will write stories all week about how Clinton exceeded expectations, outraised Obama for the first time, and has solidified her lead as the frontrunner. Obama will have significant difficulties stealing the spotlight during this week.

These are two very media savvy campaigns, but Clinton 's campaign won this match. Keep your eyes pealed for more expectation game follies. If you notice this or other media strategies employed by campaigns that you think are effective, post it on the blog, and let's discuss it.

~Jonathan