For most of Scott Walker's self-praising reports and policy position campaign ad banners that run the Web without challenge from his democratic opponents, I have to fight myself from flooding Twitter or Facebook with my own citizen-styled grassroots banner rebuttals. After all, I'm not running for governor or the House and most of the candidates have their own advisers for winning.
The truth is however, for several election cycles in Wisconsin, I watched seemingly smart, engaging and electable democrats running for office let their opponents' campaign statements go unanswered OR at the least failed to engage indirectly with their positions on the subject. At times thinking to myself that they either don't want to telegraph their strategy or are saving their best material for the 30 day window before Election Tuesday. Yeah, just wait ...you'll see.
To my major disappointment, none of the messaging I thought the candidates needed to do to win transpired. As I helplessly watched those final thirty days wind down for the Burke and Feingold campaigns in particular, I thought their campaigns had to be sabotaged from within. It was that bad. At least to me it appeared that way.
So now as I watch this huge field of democrats for governor offer tepid to no response to many of Walker's statements, I get that eerie sense of deja vu. I don't know what they're waiting for ...they SHOULD have something to say.
It's nice that the candidates are united. But there is no cavalry coming to the rescue. Sure, the winner of the primary will likely get a boost this year from anti-Trumpers and the Blue Wave, but democrats can't and shouldn't depend on winning by default. Not against a deeply entrenched and heavily funded incumbent like Scott Walker. Point is, voters need to see one or two candidates start to jell very soon.
With that said, this recent banner on gas tax policy posted by Walker is literally a huge, huge gift of gold on not one but several policy fronts for the democratic field of candidates for governor.
But lucky for Walker they seem to be absolutely clueless. Sorry, it's that deja vu thing again. BUT, the one (or two) who figures it out (Hint: promising to raise taxes is the wrong response), will pull away and ahead from the rest of the field.
5 comments:
Interesting viewpoint and intuitive.
This is what DPW leaders don't seem to understand- you need the plant the seeds on people's heads well before October of an election year, where the volume is turned up so high many casual voters just ignore it.
For example, that hackneyed Walker ad has a simple response to it. "Scott Walker cares more about what DC lobbyist Grover Norquist thinks than he does about FIXING THE DAMN ROADS."
And having just driven between Madison and the Twin Cities, we need to fix the roads.
Jake, you, John P.(Demo) myself and about 4 - 5 other active WI blog writers we both know, should be in charge of the DPW. Fire almost everyone so they can go back to their GOP chamber of com masters. I mean that without a blink.
I give RPW candidates some credit. They stand with their radio hosts and blog writers, Dems run away from us. Dems have a good platform, but no strategy to win the people except to tell us how bad the other guys are and to fund raise off of it. That's a fact. How long can people continue to hold their noses, vote for a Dem and wait.
I know exactly what you both mean. I'm a progressive growing tired of the two-faces of both parties, but particularly widems who seem to be in a election win sweet spot but shoot themselves in foot with no messaging game. It's supposed to be a CAMPAIGN for a primary, not a lovefest.
One last thing.
I'm curious to see your advice for dem candidates on act10 in their campaigns.
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