Should McCain Have Played Up Rev. Wright?

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, former pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, addresses the National Press Club in April.

Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images

With most polls showing Sen. Barack Obama leading rival Sen. John McCain heading into Election Day tomorrow, some political watchers are wondering if more ammunition could or should have been squeezed from Obama's relationship with the fiery Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Politico.com is wondering what if:

What most all Republican strategists agree on is that in order to use Wright against Obama effectively, the assault would have needed to have been begun earlier in the campaign and as part of a broader message -- unlike the McCain camp's halfhearted attempt to link the Democrat to 1960s-era domestic terrorist William Ayers in early October, a line of attack McCain himself never fully embraced and that the campaign ultimately removed from Sarah Palin's stump speech.

Yet there would have been challenges, even with an early anti-Wright message.

First, if McCain's campaign could have coaxed the candidate into signing off on hammering Wright, the candidate's unease with the topic may have diluted its effectiveness.

... And even if McCain been willing to drive a Wright message beginning in the summer and done so consistently, keeping it up during the financial crisis may not have been plausible.

"[Targeting Wright] pre-Labor Day may have gotten lost in economic news," said Carl Forti, who runs the conservative group Freedom's Watch.

Alex Castellanos, a veteran Republican media consultant, said that Obama was lucky in a way that Wright got so much exposure in the spring as to become effectively old news.

That hasn't stopped a political action committee called The National Republican Trust from trying to capitalize on the Rev. Wright controversy. Here's their last-ditch effort, airing now in key states:

What do you think?

Geoffrey Bennett

Tags: Barack Obama | John McCain | Rev. Jeremiah Wright

12:26 PM ET | 11- 3-2008 | permalink

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