For a background on 'hit back harder' strategy insights for the 2008 elections, view this article. 

For now, I am just going to list the main points of the campaign strategy.I'm going to slowly fill this out in the coming days. Time's running out for campaigning and this post may be too little too late, but it's worth a try and many swing voters decide in the last few days anyway.3

1) Stand up for yourself and defend your policies and get the truth across

Americans respect people who stand up for themselves and show some backbone. Do not be afraid of strongly defending your policies instead of just calling them ‘work in progress’ or ‘we understand these are difficult times and we will address your concerns etc. etc. Show them that you believe in your policies an defend them bravely and vigorously instead of avoiding talking about them, for nobody will believe in you if you don't believe in them yourselves. Show them that each of your policies was designed after a lot of research and opinion gathering across the aisle and they are slowly but surely taking us down the path of recovery from the massive recession and economic turmoil. Talk about each policy and clear the air of misleading propaganda and false allegations surrounding those policies.

a)   Stimulus – There has been a lot of muck-raking and spin around the economic stimulus package and it has been derided as a ‘bailout’ of wall-street firms and unscrupulous profiteers. This package was not a ‘bailout’ and was meant to protect the common man from the impact of an economic meltdown which would have happened if the financial institutions weren’t shored up and also provide crucial resources and investments meant to get the economy out of a vicious tailspin and come out of the state of panic and financial meltdown that was crippling the financial system. The package was designed after consulting with top economists of all political spectrum and in retrospect, we still feel that it was a necessary step and the package prevented devastation of the American and world-wide economy which could have made the recession into a severe depression. We know that we haven’t gone far enough yet and we are trying our level best to improve unemployment and grow the economy further but the economic turmoil we witnessed and which we inherited when we came in was unprecedented and such sever downturns do not reverse themselves overnight. we should also look back at what could have been a devastating outcome and how the financial system and stock markets have not only recovered but have grown substantially. In fact, the government has recovered almost all the money that it had put in to invest in distressed financial firms and GM, making this stimulus package one of the best investments ever. HAMMER this point in to every person , 'The funds for shoring up the financial industry were a very good investment!'. 

b)    Healthcare - Reform was and is a necessity as the premiums were going through the roof and this package was designed after evaluating many other proposals, but this was the only one which not only reduced the deficit but also provided coverage to many uninsured people. Freely admit that there is no perfect package and every alternative will have some elements that will make some section of electorate unhappy, but being status quo was not an option and it was time for responsible elected officials to try to find a solution instead of shooting down every effort of people who are really trying to make things work. This bill is used to brain wash and rally a lot of people but it will be easy to turn the tables on them by hammering the point that this bill borrows many ideas from a bill passed by a republican (Mitt Romney) and nobody started spitting fire when this was passed in Massachussets.

c)       Financial Regulation

d)       School Reform

e)       Foreign policy

2) Make people aware of your sincere and innovative efforts and your accomplishments in such a short time

a)       cash for clunkers

b)       tax rebate for first time home buyers

c)       efforts on middle east policy to come up with agreement

d)       tax cuts via payroll for 95% of salaried americans

e)       small biz tax cut to write off capex

f)       race to the top

3) Call out the liars

It's time to call out the unscrupulous manipulators who brainwash the people with misinformation, deception and half-truths. These lowly political scum are ready to throw the nation and the economy to the sidewalk for political gains. Have key members of the communications team go on as many shows and interviews as possible and call out the people from the other side who are manipulating and misleading people by directly lying to the American people. People who talk of 'death panels', 'bailouts', 'government take-over of medicine etc., while knowing very well that Obama care was borrowed from Mitt Romney's plan. Ask the people if any tea party member has ever mentioned that that the Obama care plan is very similar to a plan passed by a conservative republican! Tell them that's because they don't want to tell the truth.

4) Go on the offensive and highlight the hollowness of the oppositions’ policies (if there are any)

Many people have cited their anger on the healthcare bill as one reason why they're voting republican. The democrats should take this challenge head on and point out the lies that the opposition is spreading on the health care bill and that it is NOT a government take over of health care. It is very important to clarify these important issues and not run away from them! Tell them it is very similar in structure to what Mitt Romney passed in Massachusetts and even though it may not be a perfect bill, it is a big step in the direction of reducing premiums which were becoming unaffordable. The tea party is very eager to slam the plan but ask the people if they even have a single idea of their own or if they have any proposal to reduce the premiums. They are very eager to criticise anybody with an idea but they haven't even bothered to come up with single proposal of their own! Take it back to the tea party and the public will get it. Same tihngo n the stimulus, tell the public that they have been mischaracterising the plan and calling it a 'bailout' but did the3y have even a single idea to get us out of the economic devastation we were going through in 2009? The stimulus, for all the flak that it received, did prevent a depression and actually helped the stock market go up by 50%! Explain the stimulus package a bit more (inesting in america etc., which provided jobs and improved roads).

Take the tea party/gop head on and hit them hard on supporting tax breaks for companies who are shipping our jobs overseas. Slam them about supporting outsourcing of jobs even in these times of high unemployment.

Challenge the tea party on their deficits obsession and ask them where that concern was when the Clinton surplus was turned into more than a trillion dollars of deficits. Put them on the spot by asking they plan to tackle the deficits and which programs are they willing to cut? If they are indeed so concerned about deficits then why are they opposing letting the tax cuts expire for people making more than $250,000? How do they propose to revive the economy while cutting deficits at the same time? Make the case to the public that all their talk about deficits is nothing but political opportunism as they have no ideas of their own to cut down deficits and revive the economy, and all they are doing is trying to obstruct the leaders who are trying their best to revive the economy, which would automatically help in reducing the deficits.

5) Stop Blaming Bush or referring to going back to the ‘failed’ policies of the previous administration

Most people are tired with democrats blaming bush for every untoward incident and feel it’s just about taking political cover. Talk about inheriting a massive deficit in the first place, which came up after a budget surplus under the Clinton admin. In fact, win points for ‘honestness’ with strategically by praising the previous admin once in a while such as the TARP package designed to shore up the financial institutions (which will indirectly highlight to the voters that it was Bush who started the so called’ bailout’). This will also highlight the fact that the economic crisis started well before Obama came into power.

6) Stop using political language and talk in 'Americano'
Enough with the ‘bringing change to Washington’ or ‘failed policies of the previous administration’ and definitely don't used words like 'Americans are scared'. Sounds as if you're making them out to be wimps and that is definitely not 'Americano'. Man up and face the truth and go out there and tell the people that the unemployment is still high and the economic growth still slow but do not blink in saying that things would have been a lot worse without the stimulus and that you are confident things will get better soon because you will try to move heaven and earth to revive the economy. Spell things out clearly such as ‘the deficit we inherited from the previous admin in the first place was more than a trillion dollars’. Call out the tea party liars and state unequivocally that many of your policies have been distorted for political gains and that the president is NOT a socialist (and then spell out the facts, like tax cuts). Also, 'out right’ the right in some areas such as your efforts to hunt down Bin Laden and the ramp up in Afghanistan to hunt down the rat and his allies (yup, use a little bluster, for some folks sure like that and it smacks of 'Americano').