Rick Perlstein has unearthed an article about campaign advice given by Murray Chotiner to Republicans back in 1954; read Rick's piece here. Turns out that his advice is compatible with that given by psychologist Drew Westen, in his book, "The Political Brain":
Positive and negative emotions are not the opposites of each other. They are psychologically distinct, mediated by different neural circuits, and affect voting in different ways. Focusing primarily on the positive and leaving the negative to chance is simply ceding half the brain to the opposition. You can't win an election with half a brain. [p. 250]Political strategists and media advisors often make use of the "message grid," which consists of four simple questions every campaign should ask at the beginning: What will I tell voters about me? What will I say about my opponent? What will my opponent tell voters about himself or herself? What will my opponent say about me? [p. 252]
Chotiner's strongest focus was on what to say about one's opponent--a real weak point for most progressive candidates. Hard to believe its been over fifty years, and we still haven't learned not to fight with one hand tied behind our backs, trying to appeal to audiences through half their brains.