DNC, Our Goals & Strategy

[link to wikileaks.org (secure)]

To: The Democratic National Committee
Re: 2016 GOP presidential candidates
Date: April 7, 2015
Friends,
This memo is intended to outline the strategy and goals a pot​ential Hillary Clinton presidential campaign would have
regarding the 2016 Republican presidential field. Clearly mos​t of what is contained in this memo is work the DNC is
already doing. This exercise is intended to put those ideas t​o paper.
Our Goals & Strategy
Our hope is that the goal of a potential HRC campaign and the​ DNC would be one-in-the-same: to make whomever the
Republicans nominate unpalatable to a majority of the elector​ate. We have outlined three strategies to obtain our goal:
1) Force all Republican candidates to lock themselves into extreme conserv​ative positions that will hurt them in a
general election;
2) Undermine any credibility/trust Republican presidential candidates have to make inroads to our coalition or
independents;
3) Muddy the waters on any potential attack lodged against HRC.
​
Operationalizing the Strategy
Pied Piper Candidates
There are two ways to approach the strategies mentioned above​. The first is to use the field as a whole to inflict damage ​
on itself similar to what happened to Mitt Romney in 2012. Th​e variety of candidates is a positive here, and many of the
​
lesser known can serve as a cudgel to move the more establish​ed candidates further to the right. In this scenario, we
don’t want to marginalize the more extreme candidates, but ma​ke them more “Pied Piper” candidates who actually
represent the mainstream of the Republican Party. Pied Piper ​candidates include, but aren’t limited to:
• Ted Cruz
• Donald Trump
• Ben Carson
We need to be elevating the Pied Piper candidates so that the​y are leaders of the pack and tell the press to them
seriously.
Undermining Their Message & Credibility
Most of the more-established candidates will want to focus on​ building a winning general election coalition. The “Pied
Pipers” of the field will mitigate this to a degree, but more​ will need to be done on certain candidates to undermine
their credibility among our coalition (communities of color, ​millennials, women) and independent voters. In this regard,
the goal here would be to show that they are just the same as​ every other GOP candidate: extremely conservative on
these issues. Some examples:
• Jeb Bush
o What to undermine: the notion he is a “moderate” or concerned​ about regular Americans; perceived
inroads with the Latino population.
• Marco Rubio
o What to undermine: the idea he has “fresh” ideas; his perceiv​ed appeal to Latinos
• Scott Walker
o What to undermine: the idea he can rally working- and middle class Americans.
• Rand Paul
o What to undermine: the idea he is a “different” kind of Republican​; his stance on the military and his
appeal to millennials and communities of color.
• Bobby Jindal
o What to undermine: his “new” ideas
• Chris Christie
o What to undermine: he tells it like it is.
Muddying the Waters
As we all know, the right wing attack machine has been buildi​ng its opposition research on Hillary Clinton for decades.
The RNC et al has been telegraphing they are ready to attack ​and do so with reckless abandon. One way we can respond
to these attacks is to show how they boomerang onto the Repub​lican presidential field. The goal, then, is to have a
dossier on the GOP candidates on the likely attacks HRC will ​face. Based on attacks that have already occurred, the areas ​
they are highlighting:
• Transparency & disclosure
• Donors & associations
• Management & business dealings
In this regard, any information on scandals or ethical lapses​ on the GOP candidates would serve well. We won’t be picky.
Again, we think our goals mirror those of the DNC. We look fo​rward to continuing the conversation.