 And so it begins. Today the first GOP postcard hit our mailbox. We have been dreading Kentucky GOP’s snail mail campaign, which in years past has been vile. Candidates in down ticket races have faced half truths and downright lies on slick oversized postcards that arrive just in time for the election. Too late to be effectively countered.
The Republican Party of Kentucky has sent the first mailer we've seen this year against an up ticket candidate. The mailer accuses Bruce Lunsford of having homes in Chicago and Scottsdale- not Kentucky.
Since this allegation has been running on television, Lunsford shouldn't be surprised by it. Even so, his website says nothing about his residence.
Reporter Joe Gerth investigated the nonresidency claim and found it to be untrue. Lunsford lives in Louisville, according the CJ. An editorial on Thursday disputed the claim. Flatly, absolutely untrue. "The Tao of Homer" (CJ 9/25/08)
The problem down here in far west Kentucky is that few people in our region get the Courier Journal or read it on line. An investigation by Joe Gerth and an editorial by the CJ have no effect on voters in the First District. Lunsford and his advisors can review McConnell's string of victories and see that the First District is a stronghold for him.
The perception that a candidate does not live in the state he will represent doesn't sit well with voters. The GOP is expert in finding what gets under the voters' skins and capitalizing on it. Building the case that their opponent is shady, untruthful and somehow unsavory, is standard operating procedure for the GOP.
During the Missouri 2004 senatorial election, the GOP attacked Claire McCaskill in a very big way. Watching a station across the Big River, we didn't know Ms. McCaskill, but we cringed for her when the ads ran in the Cape Girardeau media market.
She fought back with smart (not slick: smart. They aren't the same thing) campaigning. Her ads were honest and straightforward. Beating back the attacks rather than ignoring them, changed her title from "Ms" to "Sen."
While this mailer may be trivial to Mr. Lunsford, who knows where he lives, it is not trivial to voters who still don't know him as well as he thinks they do.
An invitation to the press to visit his home and take tea or their preferred potable may be in order.
Whether Mr. Lunsford has homes in Illinois and Arizona shouldn't be that shocking. Rich people have more than one home. Senator McCain has so many houses that he can't remember them all. For the GOP to be shocked, shocked! That Bruce Lunsford owns more than one home is more than a little hypocritical.
Mailers like this one increase the cynicism and disenchantment of voters. We are not so naive to think that may not be the goal. Campaigns in recent years have become schools for cynics.
Letting the GOP spread what the Courier Journal calls lies about him will not bring Lunsford any closer to victory than "almost".
Surely, Mr. Lunsford, successful in other endeavors, must be getting very tired of "almost". |
