Family Time
We are designing our new home together, painting this one so we can get it on the market and today will brave the world of shopping malls so they can spend some of their Christmas cash. I will be back full time by the end of the week.
In the meantime, don't forget to visit the blogs on my blogroll. There are so many more I need to add, but these are a start and you can find more great reads on their respective blogrolls.
The Charlotte Observer is doing their end-of-year puff pieces on different politicians. Most of them are worth the few seconds it takes to read them, if for no other reason than to get to know the people who are representing us in Raleigh. I linked earlier to their piece on State Senator Malcolm Graham. Here is their piece on Doug Vinson. He's a Republican. What's interesting about this article actually doesn't show up until the final paragraphs. There's a bit of whining about not being in the party of power, but when speaking of the Republican leadership he says:
As a freshman in the minority party, Vinson held no illusions that his voice
would be heard in the General Assembly beyond local legislation for his
district. He did think that Republicans together could make enough noise to gain
attention, but "the leadership didn't rally the troops," he said.
"I expected to be isolated," he said, "but isolated more as a group."
So, in a red state the Republican leadership can't get their act together. The only thing Republicans tend to do as an organized activity in this state is attack Democrats. While I'll be the first to say that Jim Black has shown a gross lapse in judgment and needs to find a responsible candidate to fill his shoes, I'm not buying the GOP pushed story that he has broken the law. I'll be the first to admit it if I'm proven wrong.
The Observer has also written a piece on Larry Kissell, a social studies teacher who is running a grassroots campaign against Robin Hayes. I find it more than a bit interesting that in the online article the Observer doesn't put Kissell's name in the headline, however does give a name boost to Hayes. I have a degree in journalism and remember my basic instruction on writing headlines. Instead of "Man Launching Campaign to Unseat Hayes" why don't we shorten it to "Kissell to Run Against Hayes". It's much more concise. It takes up less space and uses less ink and it's more objective in that it mentions both names. I despise the way the Observer writers and editors insert their opinions into the news.
I haven't looked closely enough at Tim Dunn and Larry Kissell to make a comparison. Here is what I do know. Larry Kissell isn't reporting any cash on hand, Tim Dunn has raised about $50,000 and at the end of September Robin Hayes had over $500,000 cash on hand. Grassroots campaigning is nice and it can help win elections, but it takes hard cold cash to win an election in this district. Robin Hayes and the national GOP machine will bury any Democrat running with negative advertisements. Both men need to get busy raising money and they need to do it now.
Another bit of advice for the Kissell campaign. It's a bit too early for the negativity I'm seeing on different NC blogs. I won't repeat here what I'm seeing you claim in your comments about Tim Dunn, but I will tell you that too much negativity will be the kiss of death for your campaign if you start it too early. The 8th is marginally Republican, which means that if what you are saying is true, then Dunn has a better chance of beating Hayes than Kissell does. Republicans will see him as a more viable alternative to Hayes. Democrats on the national level will figure this out and throw their weight and money behind Dunn. You need to watch what you are putting out there and do a better job of tailoring your message. Otherwise you will find that the only people supporting Kissell are his students, his family and CAFTA the goat.
posted by B. Muse at
12/27/2005 07:52:00 AM
4 Comments:
Interesting commentary, if not a little muddy at the end.
Having followed the race closely since this summer, I can only imagine you're talking about comments from Mark Ortiz and his group that have been out there blasting Dunn since October, or possibly the Dem Women of Meck that did the same after a September meeting.
Considering Kissel just anounced at Thanksgiving, isn't blaming him for that kind of irresponsible? It's the internet. People are going to have strong opinions.
Now yours show up in the mix as well.
It isn't irresponsible at all. I addressed the Kissell campaign not the candidate. The comments I've read have come from a couple of different sources and just over the past month or so.
I offered some sound advice to hold off on the negative campaigning. Too much of it too early on can lose an election. I don't support either candidate yet and probably won't make a decision until I have more information.
I've never heard of Mark Ortiz or Dem Women of Meck. There is the Democratic Women's Club and the League of Women Voters and I haven't heard a peep out of them yet.
I still say that Kissell supporters need to tailor the message. You folks are all over the place and most of what I hear is negative.
Maybe the goat can hunt down people on the Internet and give them talking points.
Not sure what the diff between the candidate and the campaign is? If you are including the random people posting opinions on the internet, this is not part of the campaign. These could be anyone from people who plan to cast a vote to raving lunatics. I'd be careful about using the term "campaign" here because it sounds like you are blaming the candidate for something that is completely out of their control.
Everything that I have heard directly from Kissell has been positive or messaging about Hayes that would resonate with the Republican base. There is plenty on his on website whih is certainly on point.
I realize that you are a blogger and have fully embraced the medium, but you have to remember that opinions you read on the Internet aren't officially sanctioned, may be ill-informed, and certainly aren't fact. And they certainly aren't controllable.
I do realize that. What I see is a fairly organized attempt by a few people to visit every web site/blog and say basically the same thing. The comments look like they are planted and those aren't typically made by casual supporters.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home