Strategists Warn Republicans on Attacking Obama

Worth Clicking: Blasts from the past wound Romney

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December 06, 2011

Strategists Warn Republicans on Attacking Obama

Republican operatives on a private RNC conference call warned that party surrogates "should refrain from personal attacks" on President Obama, "because such a strategy is too hazardous for the GOP," according to Yahoo News.

Said pollster Nicholas Thompson: "We're hesitant to jump on board with heavy attacks... There's a lot of people who feel sorry for him."

The reason: While Obama still suffers from low job approval ratings, voters still give him "high approval" personally.

Ben Smith suggests Mitt Romney is listening because he regularly uses a well-honed description of Obama: "A nice guy in over his head."

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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December 06, 2011