Hard-core

A Democratic consultant pegged it mid-day Tuesday: “This is a base-vote primary.”
 
That’s why Elaine Marshall nearly won, Cal Cunningham disappointed and Ken Lewis did better than expected.
 
It has to gall Cunningham that his DSCC backing got him just 27.3 percent, just 116,000 votes. Even more galling has to be the N&O Page One headline about his backing from party “bosses.”
 
Only 426,000 Democrats voted. Through six statewide campaigns and many years as a legislator and party activist, Marshall probably personally knew most of the 155,000 people who voted for her.
 
The young and minority voters that President Obama brought out two years ago stayed home yesterday.
 
Public Policy Polling has already thrown cold water on Cunningham’s chances in a runoff. He won’t win unless he gets a lot more money, and how does he get it after that showing?
 
But weird things happen in runoffs. In 1978, John Ingram beat Luther Hodges Jr. Of course, that didn’t turn out so well.
 
To me, the big is why Cunningham’s heavy advantage on TV still left him 38,000-plus votes and nine percentage points behind Marshall.
 
Especially when most people dismissed her “pop up” ad as silly and amateurish.
 
Here’s a theory: Cunningham’s ads had the wrong tone and wrong message. They were cold and masculine: old warehouses, website pages, war footage, helicopters and – in the end – Cal standing by himself.
 
Elaine’s ads were her with people – the people she said she’s standing up for against Wall Street, insurance companies and lobbyists.
 
Hers was the right message for the base vote. And Cunningham’s was wrong for a party of doves.
 

 

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Gary Pearce

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Hard-core

A Democratic consultant pegged it mid-day Tuesday: “This is a base-vote primary.”
 
That’s why Elaine Marshall nearly won, Cal Cunningham disappointed and Ken Lewis did better than expected.
 
It has to gall Cunningham that his DSCC backing got him just 27.3 percent, just 116,000 votes. Even more galling has to be the N&O Page One headline about his backing from party “bosses.”
 
Only 426,000 Democrats voted. Through six statewide campaigns and many years as a legislator and party activist, Marshall probably personally knew most of the 155,000 people who voted for her.
 
The young and minority voters that President Obama brought out two years ago stayed home yesterday.
 
Public Policy Polling has already thrown cold water on Cunningham’s chances in a runoff. He won’t win unless he gets a lot more money, and how does he get it after that showing?
 
But weird things happen in runoffs. In 1978, John Ingram beat Luther Hodges Jr. Of course, that didn’t turn out so well.
 
To me, the big is why Cunningham’s heavy advantage on TV still left him 38,000-plus votes and nine percentage points behind Marshall.
 
Especially when most people dismissed her “pop up” ad as silly and amateurish.
 
Here’s a theory: Cunningham’s ads had the wrong tone and wrong message. They were cold and masculine: old warehouses, website pages, war footage, helicopters and – in the end – Cal standing by himself.
 
Elaine’s ads were her with people – the people she said she’s standing up for against Wall Street, insurance companies and lobbyists.
 
Hers was the right message for the base vote. And Cunningham’s was wrong for a party of doves.
 

 

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Gary Pearce

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