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August 26, 2006

Will Cantwell Bore Her Way To Re-Election?

The Seattle P-I does a write up today about Maria Cantwell and the lack of, well, snap in her campaign.

When Cantwell finally staged a whirlwind multi-city campaign kickoff tour during her August recess, it turned out to be rather subdued and anticlimactic. Rather than a traditional rah-rah fly-around or marathon series of flashy events to stir the troops and get the attention of the sleepy electorate, this down-tempo tour had the wonky feel of Senate field hearings.

Apparently, the writer thinks that this should be cause for concern. The reason he's so worried? Because she's discussing issues like Social Security, Medicare, Energy, and Health Care. And she's not bashing Bush or talking up Iraq. The horror.

But later in his article he gives a number of reasons why she should be fine against Mike! McGavick.

It's true that she's a Democrat, a woman and an incumbent in a state that tends to vote for all three.

She leads in the polls and unless retired insurance executive McGavick dumps millions more of his personal wealth into his campaign coffers, Cantwell should have the upper hand in the money department.

She's been up on television for several weeks with breezy blue-collar ads, including one that portrays the high-tech millionaire as a former waitress who supports tax cuts. She will air commercials until Election Day. She has a snazzy campaign Web site, is advertising on newspaper Web sites and in the blogosphere, and has papered the state with placards.

Sounds to me like her campaign is on pretty solid footing. I guess the question is - can a candidate win re-election when they aren't running the type of campaign that the press thinks they should?

Posted by Alan at August 26, 2006 06:50 AM