Nunn memo reveals strategy, weaknesses

The 144-page collection of memos, obtained by the National Review, offers a snapshot of the Nunn campaign as of December, seeking to "enforce message discipline" and school the first-time candidate on policy.

The document also depicts in clinical terms the campaign’s need to reach out to core Democratic groups. Black residents are depicted as “validators, volunteers and voters;” Jews offer a “tremendous financial opportunity.”

It also describes potential liabilities, including possible attacks on the role Points of Light, the nonprofit she led, had in the flow of money to Islamic groups opponents would cite as “terrorists.”

The language in the document — reportedly uploaded to the Internet by Nunn’s campaign in December before being quickly taken down — comes as no surprise to veteran campaign operatives who are used to seeing demographic breakdowns and campaign strategy outlined in stark details. But the public revelation served as an embarrassment to the campaign, as it gears up for a general election fight with Republican businessman David Perdue.

A concern about ‘terrorists’

The memo outlined several potential Republican attacks against Nunn, including one that has yet to surface: questions about the money flowing via her volunteer service nonprofit to people described by the memo’s author as “terrorists.”

Points of Light, through a service called MissionFish, helped validate thousands of charities for eBay users who wanted to auction items and donate the proceeds to a specific charity. One of those charities was Islamic Relief USA, which got $33,000 from individual donors through the Points of Light-validated system. Islamic Relief USA provides funds for emergency relief and other programs overseas. It has worked with the American Red Cross.

Its legally separate overseas affiliate, with whom the charity shares a "common mission, vision and family identity," according to Islamic Relief USA's website, is Islamic Relief Worldwide. Israel has banned Islamic Relief Worldwide from working there because of its alleged ties to Hamas. Israel arrested the group's Gaza project coordinator in 2006 and accused him of transferring funds to Hamas.

Islamic Relief Worldwide “categorically denies any link with Hamas.” Islamic Relief USA said in 2012 that it worked on only one program with its worldwide affiliate, in the West Bank, while it worked with the United Nations in Gaza. “In all of our grant agreement language, it incorporates US Treasury Department language on US sanctions, and requires partners to abide by all applicable US regulations and laws,” an Islamic Relief USA spokeswoman wrote in an email.

The Nunn campaign emphasized that Points of Light did not specifically direct money to Islamic Relief USA — although Internal Revenue Service forms list her nonprofit as the source for bookkeeping reasons — as the money came from individual donors through eBay.

Several of Nunn’s Jewish supporters came to her defense.

Steve Labovitz, an Atlanta attorney listed in the memo as a potential anchor of the campaign’s outreach to Jewish donors, said Points of Light’s stance “wouldn’t change my view one bit” of Nunn.

“Michelle has no love for Hamas and what’s going on over there,” said Labovitz, now a member of her campaign finance team. “That’s ridiculous.”

Money, money, money

In stark details, the campaign also outlined its goal of raising at least $18 million for the campaign by leveraging “national connections and relationships that most candidates could never convene, from Warren Buffet to General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt to Usher.”

In all, it says about $37 million could be spent to boost her candidacy, including more than $8 million from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, $6 million from the state Democratic Party and $8 million from political action committees.

It expects the Republican side will spend a combined $46 million to defeat her.

The campaign should be “prepared to use the attacks against Michelle to raise even more money,” the memo states.

Sprinkled throughout the memo were concerns that a novice candidate could make missteps. Her December schedule includes 90 minutes a week in question-and-answer practice with aides, intense prep before radio interviews and at least 15 minutes a week for review of her stump speech.

An ‘offensive’ strategy?

Republicans seized upon the memo as evidence that Nunn has been misleading voters. For example, it states that she should appear in rural settings to de-emphasize the fact that she lives in Atlanta and grew up mostly in suburban Washington as her father, Sam Nunn, served in the U.S. Senate.

The policy portion also seeks more depth and asks how specific Nunn will get on the Affordable Care Act. She now says she wants to make “fixes” to the law such as adding a lower-priced tier of catastrophic insurance coverage, while pushing Georgia to expand Medicaid for low-income residents under the law.

“Never before has a Senate campaign openly admitted that its number one objective is to deceive voters and hide a candidate’s true beliefs from public view,” National Republican Senatorial Committee political director Ward Baker said in a prepared statement.

“The hundred plus pages of Michelle Nunn’s campaign plan reveals a deliberate effort to manipulate Georgia voters and hide the fact that Nunn’s campaign is a proxy for the agenda of Barack Obama and Harry Reid. The entire Nunn plan is dirty, offensive, and emblematic of why voters are so disenchanted with politics.”

Nunn campaign manager Jeff DiSantis said the document was a draft that has since changed.

“But what hasn’t changed and is all the more clear today is that Michelle’s opponents are going to mischaracterize her work and her positions, and part of what we’ve always done is to prepare for the false things that are going to be said,” DiSantis said in a statement.

Nunn’s magic number

In the memo, Nunn’s campaign outlines its goal of 1.4 million votes and a hope for 30 percent of the white vote.

It lays out plans to create a dozen or so task forces to appeal to different segments of the vote, including blacks, Jews and Hispanics. It notes Jewish voters could become significant donors depending on Nunn’s stance on Israel, while prominent black leaders and clergy members could be “validators” if reached early.

The memo also said Nunn needed to attract an additional 5,000 Hispanic voters to win the seat, and more aggressive outreach was imperative for a community that “has not been appropriately engaged and needs to be fleshed out.”

Sam Zamarripa, a former state senator who heads the Latino advocacy group Uno Georgia, said he was encouraged by the memo. It shows, he said, that Nunn’s campaign is beginning to get a grasp on the importance of Spanish-speaking voters.

“Their strategy has evolved,” said Zamarripa, whose daughter is suggested as a key Nunn backer. “I also don’t think they’ve really launched their campaign yet. It’s a sprint and they haven’t really started yet.”