RI-SEN: Whitehouse Airs First Ad Of General
The balloons are still deflating at Lincoln Chafee's victory party, but Dem Sheldon Whitehouse has already unleashed the first TV ad of the general election. Whitehouse's new ad leaves no doubt that he's moving aggressively to make the election a referendum on George W. Bush: It doesn't mention Chafee's name even once, and it says: "A Republican Senate continues the Bush policies and its failures. A Democratic Senate changes the direction of America. Think about it."
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I'm immune to political ads now so I won't judge the ad, but it's good to see Whitehouse taking the initiative! This is how you run a campaign--go after it from the get go. The exact opposite of Lamont.
September 13, 2006 4:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Given this race especially, I think this ad is pitched just right. Seems to me this idea--that a Democratic senate can put the brakes on the failed Bush agenda--ought to be emulated by Democrats in a lot of the tightest senate races.
September 13, 2006 5:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is the perfect tack to take against Chaffee, it seems to me. Chaffee is respected in RI, but he doesn't arouse overwhelming feelings of loyalty. This ad says, "hey, it's nothing personal; we're sure Chaffee's an OK guy, but this situation calls for a Democratic senate." Smart play.
September 13, 2006 5:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
The ad is good, but I think it is not strong enough. It is too passive. Take the statements, "A Republican Senate continues the Bush policys and a failures. A Democratic Sentate changes the direction of our nation."
These sentences seem oddly constructed to me. Why not say "A Republican Senate will not change the Bush policys and failures. A Democratic Sentate will change the direction of our nation."
And how about adding "for the better" on to this. Change itself is not always welcome or positive.
The closing is also weak, "To change America we have to change the Senate." By this logic you could just loby your Senator to get him/her to change their position. It does not state what you should do to make this change happen.
You could just added another line, "To change America for the better, vote Democrat."
September 13, 2006 5:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
It doesn't mention Chafee's name because they were going to use it whoever won the Republican nomination.
September 13, 2006 5:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
I like it. It is not nasty, but very firm. It appeals to the Dems who would vote for Chafee.
I give it 3.5 of 5 stars.
The next ad should be more pointed about Linc.
September 13, 2006 5:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Chafee's now an enigma. He might have survived if he could keep the focus on RI issues. Admired in RI as an independent minded Republican who voted against the core Bush agenda (as well as voting against the W in 2004) more often than not, he's now converted himself into a central cog in Bush's 50% solution for controlling the Senate. He's accepted gobs of money, he welcomed the First Lady into RI (W's so unpopular, he was advised NOT to go to RI) and he worked a recent bail-out on the Bolton UN Ambassador vote. So just how independent can he be in January when 1600 Penn. calls in chits for Social Security, Medicaid, Bolton, the Iraq war, etc.? Short term it was a good strategy as he needed conservative cover against a wacko wing-nut mayor. Long term, I'm not so sure he didn't sell his soul to the devil. It will be interesting to see how Whitehouse continues the negative assault has he hangs Bush around Chafee's neck making local issues irrelevant. And soon he can hang Cheney (even more despised than the W up here) there too: do you want the VP deciding the future of Social Security, Medicaid, senior housing in 50-50 votes?
September 13, 2006 6:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
You don't say "will not" / "will" because helper words can get lost for people not paying much attention. Look at the core of each sentence "Republican Continues Bush" "Democratic Change Direction".
And set up the statement so the opposite is clearly false.
"Democratic will change" ... "Well, duh, Democratic won't change? Hardly likely".
"Democratic will change for the better" ... "Why not for the worse?"
Besides, "A Democratic Sentate changes the direction of our nation." is 9 words. Its the hook. Don't pad it.
September 13, 2006 6:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree about this not being about Lincoln Chaffee, it's about control of the Senate. Face it, Linc's a nice guy and loads of people, including me, really like him. But that first vote - for leadership, is what counts now.
Excellent ad, guys!
September 13, 2006 6:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nah, if that was it they just would've made two--one that said Laffey, one that said Chaffee. The whole point of the ad is that it doesn't really matter who the Republican candidate is, because only the Democrat will help things change.
September 13, 2006 8:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
In a state where Chafee is a popular and well known incumbent, but Bush is un-popular, this ad is one of the best ways of making the election about Bush.
Chafee can and will remind voters all the time that he's not a rubber-stamp for every Bush policy. He can point to plenty of times he opposed Bush.
But, the idea that the thing that matters is who controls the senate is a big one.
I wonder how this was viewed in focus groups? Are voters that tuned in to partisan issues such as control of the senate -- as opposed to the issues?
I think maybe in a state like R.I. which is substantially Democratic, this might work.
Chafee essentially said that he's as far right as he can get away with in R.I. where he needs lots of independents and conservative Democrats to win. He can't do it with Republicans because there aren't enough of them. So, the intense partisanship of the last few years hurts him badly.
In a normal political climate Chafee would cruise to re-election. This will be interesting to watch.
1. Will Republicans who supported Laffey and don't like Chafee's "liberal" positions sit on their hands or turn out in droves to support Chafee, because he's going to need every one of them.
2. Can Chafee parlay moderate and conservative votes in an election where voters are very disenchanted and conservatives are on the defensive?
3. What kind of turnout can we expect on election day? The Republicans are spending 1/2 of their money on turnout trying to swim against the tide by turning out the wing-nuts in droves. Will this work in R.I.?
Without any kind of turnout advantage, Chafee will lose.
September 13, 2006 9:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
For the past few weeks, I've been saying that the Democrats should air the following ad in every contested state and district:
GEORGE W. BUSH WILL BE PRESIDENT UNTIL 2009
SOMEONE'S GOT TO LOOK OVER HIS SHOULDER
VOTE DEMOCRATIC
Whitehouse's ad is in that mould--we need more of them.
September 13, 2006 9:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Linc's a nice guy and loads of people, including me, really like him."
He's a pompous ass, and my friends in the Lobby--you know, the one that people around here love to malign--will do everything within the bounds of the law to kick him out like we kicked Chuck Percy and Roger Jepsen in the 80's to well-deserved oblivion. So the next time folks on this site want to rail about how awful it is that friends of Israel effectively exercise their First Amendment rights, be thankful the Lobby is going to help elect another Democrat.
September 13, 2006 11:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
i agree that this was the right approach in RI and states with similar disdain for the self-destructing bush agenda, however in state's with a much more friendly wave to republicans, this ad falls flat on its face as it ignores issues all together, not to say that democrats ignore issues in favor of personal attack, but i certainly am ready to pull out my boots for the mud that will fly in the next months
September 14, 2006 7:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think it's the perfect ad for RI, particularly after Chafee's victory. Whether it was independents or Democrats who re-registered who helped him win the primary, the voters have defined the election as one to be fought on moderate territory, rather than in partisan terms.
I hope that Whitehouse continues in this mode -- call it 'firm but fair'. There's no point in distorting Chafee's own positions, when there's tons of ground to be gained from saying that voting for Chafee gets you the policies of Jeff Sessions, Rick Santorum... and George W. Bush. And Whitehouse can even use that in debates to say things like 'You know, we're not far apart on certain issues, Linc, but what influence do you have on the rest of your party? In a Democratic-controled Senate, my voice will matter, and the voice of the people of Rhode Island will matter.'
I suspect they had a very different advert stored away in case Laffey had won.
September 15, 2006 12:16 AM | Reply | Permalink