McCain Hires Pollster McInturff
 |
James Joyner | Friday, April 11, 2008 |
John McCain has re-hired Bill McInturff and his team at Public Opinion Strategies to conduct his polling.
Sen. John McCain, still rebuilding his presidential campaign after last summer’s near-bankruptcy and staff upheaval, has re-enlisted respected veteran Bill McInturff as his pollster.
McInturff, co-founder of the Republican firm Public Opinion Strategies, has been the Arizona senator’s pollster since the early 1990s and worked on his celebrated but short-lived 2000 Republican presidential-nomination campaign against George W. Bush. He was an early adviser to McCain’s 2008 campaign, but left last September when the candidate, broke, suspended polling through at least February.
Now that McCain has fought back to be the nominee, money is coming in and he is mobilizing a national campaign while Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama fight on for the Democratic nomination. McInturff’s move means he no longer will be the Republican co-director of the Wall Street Journal/NBC News polls with Democratic pollster Peter Hart. A partner at Mr. Hart’s firm, Geoff Garin, recently joined Clinton’s campaign and this week became a chief strategist.
Whether McCain will actually listen to polling advice is an open question.
In the interests of full disclosure, I should point out again that my wife is the Chief Operating Officer at Public Opinion Strategies. She runs the ops side of the business (human resources, information technology, physical plant, etc.) and isn’t involved in polling, aside from running some occasional dial groups.
The re-establishment of the McCain-POS relationship will have no impact on OTB’s coverage of the campaign. I’ve been critical of McCain and other POS clients quite often over the years. In terms of the likely McCain-Obama matchup in the Fall, barring major developments, I’ll continue to prefer McCain over either of the Democrats but analyze developments on an as-I-see-’em basis. And, of course, Alex and perhaps other co-bloggers will support Obama but provide fair analysis as well.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia.
Follow James on FriendFeed | Twitter | Digg
- Stephen Colbert Polling Ahead of Bill Richardson
- Poll: Reverend Wright Not a Factor
- Clinton Leads McCain in AP Poll
- McCain’s Path to Victory
- McCain Real Change Candidate?
- Richard Cohen Hates the Hate
- McCain Adviser Loves Obama
- McCain Leaning Toward Public Funding
- McCain Raised $22 Million in June
- McCain Bouncing Back?
- OTB Caption JamTM
- McCain Outs Obama Iraq Trip! Trying to Get Him Killed!
- OTB Latenight - The Clash
- 100 Most Influential Slogans
- McCain Working for Dollars, Not Votes?
- Hillary Clinton Buys 2012 Website!!
- Conservatives for Obama II
- McCain Collects Social Security
- Heller Denied D.C. Gun Permit
- Caption Contest Winners
Comments are Closed
