As the end of the campaign approaches, the intensity of the television advertising is increasing. In the course of a recent evening watching mainstream network primetime programming, I swear there were only political ads during several commercial breaks; sometimes several in a row from the same camp. I am sure the strategists must be in cahoots with the advertising sales people in some way. Maybe a brother-in-law or a cousin.
It doesn’t matter what party or candidate you favor, there is a commercial running them into the ground. I know what it is like to be the recipient of negative political advertising, albeit on a much smaller scale than state or national. I was elected twice to the Snohomish City Council and even though I ran unopposed the first time, that didn’t prevent detractors from disparaging me during the campaign.
As a candidate you accept the fact that as the office gets more important and the stakes are higher, there will be critics that feel compelled to throw mud at you during a campaign. The higher the office, the more mud. That strategy appears to work effectively.
Even though I was only running for a city council seat, some of the things said about me were pretty bad. My family didn’t know some of those things about me. Family members pay the biggest toll when a person files for office. I really enjoyed the work so for me the heat I took was worth it. My wife hated the negativity from the beginning. She questioned me on more than one occasion “How can you let those terrible things they say about you just roll off your back?” The only answer I could think of was that they were only words.
A couple years ago, I had a friend running for office and we had the opportunity to sit down with a very prominent political strategist to help us develop a winning plan. We sat around a fancy coffee table in his house drinking cold beverages as we talked. After a considerable interview, he started asking the really meaningful questions. Essentially, all he wanted to know was whether we had any scandalous dirt on the opponent we could use to embarrass the person.
After all else is said and done, is comes down to negative campaigning. He didn’t say that it was a waste of our money doing the feel-good, stand-up stuff, he just said that if we wanted results we needed dirt.
Thankfully, we didn’t have to pay for those nuggets of wisdom. Any nitwit can do negative campaigning. We were hoping to get some honorable insight from a professional and what we learned was “winning is everything” and you do what you have to do to win.
My question at the end of that process was this “Are the stakes really so high that we have to destroy the opponent personally to win an election?”
I think we are all getting a little weary of the negativity and the tension!
I am ready to get back to the commercials selling high blood pressure medication, hemorrhoid medication, erectile dysfunction medication and heartburn cures. Commercials for products that will help us cope with the outcome of the elections.
Those are the good times.
Posted on October 15, 2008 at 7:56 am in Political commentary, Snohomish County Political Commentary | RSS feed
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No Loss for Words
Preparation H will help us through this election season.
by Steve DanaAs the end of the campaign approaches, the intensity of the television advertising is increasing. In the course of a recent evening watching mainstream network primetime programming, I swear there were only political ads during several commercial breaks; sometimes several in a row from the same camp. I am sure the strategists must be in cahoots with the advertising sales people in some way. Maybe a brother-in-law or a cousin.
It doesn’t matter what party or candidate you favor, there is a commercial running them into the ground. I know what it is like to be the recipient of negative political advertising, albeit on a much smaller scale than state or national. I was elected twice to the Snohomish City Council and even though I ran unopposed the first time, that didn’t prevent detractors from disparaging me during the campaign.
As a candidate you accept the fact that as the office gets more important and the stakes are higher, there will be critics that feel compelled to throw mud at you during a campaign. The higher the office, the more mud. That strategy appears to work effectively.
Even though I was only running for a city council seat, some of the things said about me were pretty bad. My family didn’t know some of those things about me. Family members pay the biggest toll when a person files for office. I really enjoyed the work so for me the heat I took was worth it. My wife hated the negativity from the beginning. She questioned me on more than one occasion “How can you let those terrible things they say about you just roll off your back?” The only answer I could think of was that they were only words.
A couple years ago, I had a friend running for office and we had the opportunity to sit down with a very prominent political strategist to help us develop a winning plan. We sat around a fancy coffee table in his house drinking cold beverages as we talked. After a considerable interview, he started asking the really meaningful questions. Essentially, all he wanted to know was whether we had any scandalous dirt on the opponent we could use to embarrass the person.
After all else is said and done, is comes down to negative campaigning. He didn’t say that it was a waste of our money doing the feel-good, stand-up stuff, he just said that if we wanted results we needed dirt.
Thankfully, we didn’t have to pay for those nuggets of wisdom. Any nitwit can do negative campaigning. We were hoping to get some honorable insight from a professional and what we learned was “winning is everything” and you do what you have to do to win.
My question at the end of that process was this “Are the stakes really so high that we have to destroy the opponent personally to win an election?”
I think we are all getting a little weary of the negativity and the tension!
I am ready to get back to the commercials selling high blood pressure medication, hemorrhoid medication, erectile dysfunction medication and heartburn cures. Commercials for products that will help us cope with the outcome of the elections.
Those are the good times.
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Posted on October 15, 2008 at 7:56 am in Political commentary, Snohomish County Political Commentary | RSS feed | Reply | Trackback URL