10 Off-the-Wall Things McCain Ought to Think About Doing in the Next 36 Weeks

Here are 10 out-of-the-box ideas that John McCain ought think about doing to put himself in the best position to win in November:

1) Make a promise to limit his speeches to three minutes. He is much better off the cuff than he is off a script.

2) Do at least one town-hall meeting a week (at least one in every state). The town-hall meeting is his best format.

3) Appoint Phil Gramm economic czar for the campaign. Gramm actually knows something about the economy, especially on spending and entitlement reform.

4) Ask Newt Gingrich to head up his healthcare task force. Outside the economy and the war, healthcare is the biggest issue of the campaign. Newt has some great ideas on making healthcare more affordable.

5) Introduce the Federal Government Competence Act, legislation aimed at making certain that the government can do certain things, like react to big hurricanes. People want the government to function at a basic competence level, and McCain should drive home the point that he is the best man to deliver bipartisan, effective governance.

6) Visit Notre Dame’s campus during a football game. Good way to appeal to Catholic voters, even if Notre Dame has another terrible year.

7) Ask Gen. David Petraeus to be his running mate. Let’s see how MoveOn.org reacts to that.

8) Ask Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) to be his top defense adviser on the campaign (with the thought that he would be secretary of Defense). Lieberman can be very helpful with those Northeastern moderates, and he is good on the war on terror.

9) Come up with a startling proposal on education. Mandate that to get welfare benefits, you have to either have a high school degree or be enrolled in a program to get a high school degree. And then propose a mandate that every student either get a college degree or a vocational education degree. And propose real incentives to the states to make that happen. If we want to compete as a nation, we need to have smarter people with more education.

10) Make the campaign interactive, using the latest viral techniques. Come up with a Council of 100, made up of a cross-section of America, representing all classes, all races, all professions, all political parties, to come up with their top priorities for the country, and then have an online vote to see which proposals do the best. Make sure that the Council is made up of people who have not given the campaign any money. It is a for-us, by-us world these days. McCain ought to be the first to use the latest viral marketing techniques to communicate to the voters.