Don't ever demand someone stop attacking you. Doesn't work. Don't do it. Sounds weak. Sounds pathetic. And a lot else.
Makes sense. Growing up a nerd, I never found that complaining about being picked on made me more popular. Doubt that it works among adults, either.
Let me offer Obama some more free advice of my own, also worth every penny:
Don't defund the 527's. I know that this is an old one, and that Obama has quietly changed his tune on 527s lately, but it seems pretty obvious. No one is going to vote for you because you stopped the evil 527 money from entering politics. However, people might very well vote for you because the 527s unleashed a $125 million spending barrage against your opponent.
Target white Democrats: Pretty much every demographic analysis of this election has shown that Obama is over-performing other recent Democratic nominees among many subgroups. However, the only subgroup where he is consistently under-performing is white Democrats (white Democrats of all types, too, including liberals and younger ones). Bring them into the fold by attacking McCain as a Republican, maybe even with a 30-second spot that just keeps repeating "John McCain is a Republican," over and over and over. Lob something partisan their way to rally around the flag with. This might also keep the percentage of Democrats in the electorate quite high.
Attack McCain's age. This might seem more dangerous, and I have cautioned against it before. However, it would seem foolish to avoid it at this point, because all of the clever attacks are being directed at Obama. We need to turn the tables, and this would help out quite a bit. For starters, voters want "change" in this election, and old age is an antithesis of change. Second, there is already a well-established national narrative about McCain's age, so it would reinforce existing anti-McCain narratives. Third, if the attack was done correctly, there would still be deniability that McCain's age was even being attacked. It could turn McCain into an angry, whiny, too sensitive candidate, which in turn makes him look old and weak. The narrative can thus reinforce itself even if McCain fights back.
Anyway, that's my free advice. Lots of it floating around these days. What do you have?
