The Winston Group

As President Obama travels to a range of Republican-friendly states to talk about his policies, the WG’s David Winston comments on why the message, not the location, is what matters most:

David Winston, a Republican strategist, said the president’s message is more important than the venue where he delivers it.

Last year’s midterms underscored the fact that Democratic rhetoric wasn’t resonating with voters, regardless of where they live, he said.

“Wherever you are – if you’re the president – the whole country is going to hear you,” Mr. Winston said. “It still comes down to what you say.”

Read the rest of the story here.

On Thursday’s Politico, the WG’s David Winston commented on effective message communication, in light of Paul Ryan unveiling a new budget plan:

David Winston, a GOP pollster who has long advised House Speaker John Boehner, said that Republicans have to overcome Mitt Romney’s failure to combat Obama’s message, which complicates their efforts to cast themselves as the party of fiscal zen.

“The opportunity is clearly there, it’s just made a lot more difficult given the nature of the 2012 campaign,” Winston said.

He said using the word “balanced” is a good way to get voters’ attention. But, he cautioned, it’s the first step in a politician’s persuasion effort, not the last one.

“They’re going to say ‘What does he mean by balanced approach?’” Winston said. “They are going to want to understand what that represents. The communications element to this is coming up with a clearly and easily consumable way of describing what you mean in terms of that idea.”

Read more on politico.com.