McCain's roadmap to beating Obama?

Newsweek’s Michael Scheer recently listed seven key strategies the John McCain campaign seems to be devising to defeat Barack Obama, should he be the Democrats’ presidential nominee. Take a look:

1. Paint Obama as a False Messiah: Republicans have been painting Obama with the “all rhetoric and no substance” brush for a while, and it’s working among some groups. McCain himself has lobbed several grenades, essentially calling Obama an unfulfilled prophet, propped up only by lofty rhetoric and charisma.”

2. Work, Woo and Win the Referees: McCain has been and continues to be a press favorite – he’s accessible - and campaign aides admit they will try to use that to their advantage. Now, his campaign has taken to have a “bad cop” regularly criticize the press, alleging, for instance, that the media has formed a “protective barrier” around Obama.

3. Meet With the People, and Force Obama to Follow: McCain's best moments on the trail come in the uncontrolled give-and-take with a crowd. He likes town hall meetings. McCain's aides even hope to bring Obama out of his stadium events and put him on the same level.

4. Claim the High Road Without Leaving the Low Road: McCain says he wants to run "a respectful campaign." But he hasn’t shown much willingness to lay off hardball politics he played during the GOP primaries.

5. Use A Vice President to Temper: The Age IssuePolls show that McCain’s age — he will be 72 by Election Day — could have an impact at the ballot box. But both McCain and his advisers have a prospect they hope will neutralize the issue: a relatively youthful vice president, who might lessen the fear of McCain's death in office. In 1980, Ronald Reagan was running for President as an older man at 69. The day he picked George Bush to be vice president, the age issue pretty much went away.

6. Make Inroads Among Traditional Democratic Voters: Republicans love to talk about the larger crossover vote that McCain wins in the early and unreliable general matchup polls. In one Pew poll from late February, as many as 14 percent of Democrats say they will vote for McCain, compared to eight percent of Republicans who say they will vote for Obama. McCain's staff see hope in Obama's trouble shoring up the Democratic base of working-class voters.

7. Rely on the Historic RNC Advantage: The McCain campaign hopes to contain the Obama big fund-raising advantage by depending heavily on the Republican Party machinery, which has a historically superior general election get-out-the-vote operation. the campaign has been encouraging wealthy donors to give even after they have reached their $2,300 donation limit for McCain. Under a program called "McCain Victory '08," donors are encouraged to give up to $70,000 to state and national party funds.

Ummm. What do you think?