Elephants in the Room
Monday, August 21st, 20061.) Anyone who lacks the ambition to roll off the couch, brush the potato chip crumbs off their belly, and catch the bus to the local Revenue office to get a photo ID shouldn’t be voting anyway.
2.) Two smart, polished candidates plus national media scrutiny equals the most issues-based Senate campaign we’ve seen in a long time. (And humorless, too: no “macaca” jokes from JMT, no “Dean scream” from Claire.) Facts trump emotion. Yawn. Edge: Talent.
3.) Nobody cares about a state auditor’s race, much less with Talent-McCaskill on the ballot. Desperate for attention and hoping for earned media, auditor campaigns will turn to negative ads that have nothing to do with the auditor’s job.
4.) Thomas campaign: “Wealthy trial lawyer.” Montee campaign: “Blunt-Graves-Thomas.” Edge: Montee.
5.) In a primary, a state party should either get behind one candidate early or stay out of the race. Pretending to be neutral while giving one candidate access to your most valuable resources creates ill will and makes it impossible to unite after the primary.
6.) Though criticized in 2004, Blunt’s HARRIS (to Hell with All Republicans Residing In St. Louis) Plan was ultimately successful, and effectively relieves future statewide Republican candidates of the obligation of having to face the black community.
7.) Question: When does, “I’m not planning on running” sound like, “I’m not running”? Answer: When that’s what you really, really want to hear.
8.) Union members whose jobs require actual skill and a work ethic couldn’t care less about a minimum-wage increase, and why should they?
9.) Elected officials are some of the most egregious users of fake logins and dummy e-mail accounts, and among the sloppiest at covering their tracks (here’s looking at you, state Rep. “Allison Tidwell”!)
10.) The country’s print media institutions, having co-opted the best features of blogs (timeliness, depth of reporting) for their own websites, will seek to portray political bloggers as a bunch of reckless, amateur boobs — and our own behavior this fall (impending libel lawsuits, “pay-to-post” scandals) will prove them right.
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