This is a family website, and I don't want to get in even more naughty search engines than I am already (thanks to the headlines of this post and also this one) so I won't repeat what one Democratic strategist told me years ago.* But Tim Kaine's victory in Virginia, and the lessons from Loudon County, force me to reassess my views, and you know how painful that can be.
Like Tim Noah, I read with interest an article in the Washington Post during the 2004 campaign by political scientist Thomas Schaller that reinforced this view. But now I'm not so sure.
If you were following the Virginia Governor's race,you heard a lot about Jerry Kilgore's ads attacking Kaine for being against the death penalty. Did those ads turn people off from Kilgore? Yes. Did they make the critical difference in the election? No. The ads that I think really sold Kaine to voters were the ones showing Kaine behind the wheel of his car, talking about transportation and suburban sprawl.
These are natural issues for Democrats, as they tie into rebuilding infrastructure which means jobs. Kaine's ads were startling in part because you never see a politician driving himself, and effective because like all good propaganda, they hit people where they live. Right on, Tim. Maybe you're showing us how we can win in the South. Holy #$@!
*But it's of course the same language the great Steve Earle uses in the song of freedom and democracy I compare to "This Land is Your Land"
Comments