The Six-Million-Dollar Woman
I haven’t been on particularly warm terms with Bob and Elizabeth Dole since 1996, when I made a passel of negative ads for Steve Forbes during the Iowa Caucus attacking then-Senator Bob Dole – but New York Senator Charlie Schumer may be about to turn what happened in Iowa ten years ago into a glimmering memory.
The National Democratic Party is buying a whopping $6.5 million of TV time to air ads for Kay Hagan; add another million for polling and producing the ads and that’s a cool $7.5 million headed for Senator Dole – unless, of course, the whole thing’s a gigantic bluff.
What’s Mrs. Hagan say about all this? She’s shocked. And surprised. She had no idea her new friends in
Now, how much damage can $7.5 million in ads do? Well, that’s probably in the neighborhood of fifteen ads – which virtually everyone in
Now, maybe the Democrats will make crummy ads and waste their $7.5 million.
But on the other hand, maybe they’ll make brilliant ads and do to Elizabeth Dole what Jesse Helms did to Jim Hunt – burn her to the political equivalent of toast.
Senator Dole is very popular. Which is an accomplishment in the political climate for Republicans these days. And she’s sitting on a comfortable lead in the polls. And she’s a nice, polite lady, so she’s probably not anxious to respond by – politically – clawing Kay Hagan’s eyes out.
But, still, $7.5 million in negative ads is a lot to ignore. If anyone had run $7.5 million in negative ads against Jesse Helms there’s no doubt what his response would have been – he’d have launched the political equivalent of international ballistic missles. Scorched earth and taking no prisoners would have been the order of the day.
So, Senator Dole might want to consider the Democrats may have set gentility and good manners aside for brute force – because they actually mean to win this election.
Kay Hagan’s weakness is simple: Virtually no one knows her. Or where she stands on hardly any issue. Her campaign – until now – has been limited to a few ads in the primary and a few snippy comments on TV.
At the North Carolina Bar Association debate, about the first words out of Mrs. Hagan’s mouth were to pound on the podium and say that ‘working families are struggling to pay for $4-a-gallon gas… we need to move away from dependence on foreign oil… and develop new sources of energy.’
Then she came out against drilling for oil fifty miles off the coast – right here in North Carolina.
But no one – unless he or she is a political newshound surfing the Internet – knows it.
So maybe Senator Dole ought to tell them. In an ad. Just play the video of Hagan saying we need to develop new energy sources right here in North Carolina. Then play the video of her saying she’s against drilling – where there’s tons of oil and gas.
Kay Hagan is, politically, a blank slate. Is she liberal? Moderate? Conservative? Maybe Elizabeth Dole ought to fill in the blanks. And take the teeth out of Mrs. Hagan’s ad blitz.
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The Six-Million-Dollar Woman
I haven’t been on particularly warm terms with Bob and Elizabeth Dole since 1996, when I made a passel of negative ads for Steve Forbes during the Iowa Caucus attacking then-Senator Bob Dole – but New York Senator Charlie Schumer may be about to turn what happened in Iowa ten years ago into a glimmering memory.
The National Democratic Party is buying a whopping $6.5 million of TV time to air ads for Kay Hagan; add another million for polling and producing the ads and that’s a cool $7.5 million headed for Senator Dole – unless, of course, the whole thing’s a gigantic bluff.
What’s Mrs. Hagan say about all this? She’s shocked. And surprised. She had no idea her new friends in
Now, how much damage can $7.5 million in ads do? Well, that’s probably in the neighborhood of fifteen ads – which virtually everyone in
Now, maybe the Democrats will make crummy ads and waste their $7.5 million.
But on the other hand, maybe they’ll make brilliant ads and do to Elizabeth Dole what Jesse Helms did to Jim Hunt – burn her to the political equivalent of toast.
Senator Dole is very popular. Which is an accomplishment in the political climate for Republicans these days. And she’s sitting on a comfortable lead in the polls. And she’s a nice, polite lady, so she’s probably not anxious to respond by – politically – clawing Kay Hagan’s eyes out.
But, still, $7.5 million in negative ads is a lot to ignore. If anyone had run $7.5 million in negative ads against Jesse Helms there’s no doubt what his response would have been – he’d have launched the political equivalent of international ballistic missles. Scorched earth and taking no prisoners would have been the order of the day.
So, Senator Dole might want to consider the Democrats may have set gentility and good manners aside for brute force – because they actually mean to win this election.
Kay Hagan’s weakness is simple: Virtually no one knows her. Or where she stands on hardly any issue. Her campaign – until now – has been limited to a few ads in the primary and a few snippy comments on TV.
At the North Carolina Bar Association debate, about the first words out of Mrs. Hagan’s mouth were to pound on the podium and say that ‘working families are struggling to pay for $4-a-gallon gas… we need to move away from dependence on foreign oil… and develop new sources of energy.’
Then she came out against drilling for oil fifty miles off the coast – right here in North Carolina.
But no one – unless he or she is a political newshound surfing the Internet – knows it.
So maybe Senator Dole ought to tell them. In an ad. Just play the video of Hagan saying we need to develop new energy sources right here in North Carolina. Then play the video of her saying she’s against drilling – where there’s tons of oil and gas.
Kay Hagan is, politically, a blank slate. Is she liberal? Moderate? Conservative? Maybe Elizabeth Dole ought to fill in the blanks. And take the teeth out of Mrs. Hagan’s ad blitz.
Click Here to discuss and comment on this and other articles.