The Zinni Effect

Ellisblog has "five reasons why Kerry lost," which at times reads like "five ways Kerry could have won."

Did the Kerry campaign really imagine that they could out direct-market Karl Rove? By buying into the 17-state strategy, they walked right into Rove’s trap. By reducing the battlefield, they enlarged the Bush campaign’s tactical brilliance. The key to defeating Bush in the biggest national election since 1968 was to nationalize the race, not localize it.

Since he's a senior fellow at The West Point Center for Combating Terrorism, I'm intrigued by his suggestion that chooding Anthony Zinni, instead of John Edwards, as vice president nominee would have been brilliant.

Had he chosen former Marine Corps Gen. Zinni (or someone like him), he could have said: “In choosing Gen. Zinni, I promise you that he will not be delegated to campaign for Democratic candidates, or be sent to attend state funerals. His sole job will be to coordinate the War on Terror and to do the planning for post-election Iraq. Toward that end, I have asked him to put together a comprehensive strategy, deliverable on October 1st, that will become the roadmap for our counter-terrorism efforts, our Middle East initiatives and our anti-proliferation campaigns. I will reveal that plan on October 15th. A final plan will be ready by December 15th. In the event that we are elected, we will not miss a beat as the baton passes hands.”