"We find our openings, pick our spots and then we drive it," she said.
Obama's campaign team members declined to publicly discuss their day-to-day operations, but carry out similar operations.
For any positive motion that can come out of a win-the-day mindset, there's a risk that campaigns can get so caught up in day-to-day skirmishes that they lose sight of the big picture.
Romney senior strategist Stuart Stevens likes to preach the long view. He's been known to remind staffers that "the key is winning the election, not winning the day."
But Begala thinks that message may have gotten lost by the Republicans, saying the Romney campaign has been "all over the map" with talk of the debt clock, violence in Libya, currency manipulation in China, and more.
Without a clear vision, he says, "every day becomes an Etch a Sketch, it becomes a zigzag."
But somebody still has to get up early and get the doughnuts.
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