The Washington Post political columnist Chris Cillizza writes about a very effective ad campaign started by Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota that may hold promise not just for Coleman (who faces a well-funded, if controversial, opponent-comedian Al Franken) but for all Republican candidates.
Coleman is touting his ability to get things done, to deliver results to his constituents. He calls this a transactional approach towards campaigning. While he characterizes this style of campaigning as amounting to so much "who brings home the pork", it seems to be working for Coleman.
Coleman's ad features a voter clad in a bowling shirt in a bowling alley, extolling the candidate. Cizzillia writes:
If there's one thing about Norm Coleman, he gets things done," says the ad narrator, a guy dressed in a bowling shirt at a bowling alley.
As the actor lists Coleman's accomplishments ("increased college Pell grants...helping us get energy independent") voices from off-camera repeatedly yell: "And, he brought hockey back."
Coleman, the former mayor of Saint Paul, is widely remembered both in the city and statewide for his aggressive advocacy to bring a National Hockey League team to the city
Hockey is very important in Minnesota and the professional team was brought to Minnesota through dogged efforts by Coleman when he was the popular mayor of Saint Paul.
While Democrats are sure to pounce on record high oil prices and the Iraq War, it would be worthwhile for Republicans to also capitalize on a Democratic-majority Congress held in such low esteem and perceived as being do-nothing. A start could be portraying Democrats as the roadblock to increased energy exploration in America; a corollary could be to note that the Republicans led the way in cutting taxes.
Furthermore, this approach might hold promise for John McCain. A strategy that contrasts his record of accomplishment (including working in a bipartisan way with Democrat) with Barack Obama's meager resume would probably go down well with a population wary of Obama's inexperience. A campaign that not only contrasts the two but also inform voters that not only has Barack Obama accomplished very little; in some ways, his record has also been marked by failures along the way.
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