When you are sitting on a 30-point lead in your race, and your opponent doesn't even have a website (save for a barren Facebook page with the candidate's own name misspelled), what kind of ad campaign should you run?
If you are Republican Governor Bill Haslam of Tennessee, the answer is apparently, one with as many cute kids as possible.
Just under 20 kids of varying ages and racial backgrounds are packed into this 60-second spot, with no narration from any meddling adult.
Lacking any serious opposition, Haslam's ad is practically free of any ideology that could alienate a faction of voters. Kids tick off Haslam’s accomplishments, such as "fastest improving students" and "more than 175,000 new jobs" without offering any reason how such things happened. The only policy touted is one that sounds awfully "big government" for a Republican: no-cost community college for all high school graduates. "And you get a mentor, free," throws in one juvenile pitchman.
Haslam is depicted as the ultimate technocrat. "It's better to be a work horse than a show horse," says one little boy. "Actions speak louder than words," whispers a girl in a church pew. "This state is being managed, right," concludes another boy.
When incumbents want to raise their national profile and be considered by the political establishment as a presidential or vice-presidential nominee, they want to avoid controversy and just win big. Is that what Haslam has is eye on? We'll find out soon enough.
If you are Republican Governor Bill Haslam of Tennessee, the answer is apparently, one with as many cute kids as possible.
Just under 20 kids of varying ages and racial backgrounds are packed into this 60-second spot, with no narration from any meddling adult.
Governor Bill Haslam Wants To Run Up The Score
The ad clearly is an attempt to run up the score against an eccentric opponent named Charles V. Brown, who won the Democratic nomination with no clear campaigning aside from a smattering of (again) misspelled letters to the editor (in which said he wanted "strap" Haslam's "butt to the chair and give him about half the jolt" and pledged that if elected "we will have hog hunting again ... Please join the NRA”).Lacking any serious opposition, Haslam's ad is practically free of any ideology that could alienate a faction of voters. Kids tick off Haslam’s accomplishments, such as "fastest improving students" and "more than 175,000 new jobs" without offering any reason how such things happened. The only policy touted is one that sounds awfully "big government" for a Republican: no-cost community college for all high school graduates. "And you get a mentor, free," throws in one juvenile pitchman.
Haslam is depicted as the ultimate technocrat. "It's better to be a work horse than a show horse," says one little boy. "Actions speak louder than words," whispers a girl in a church pew. "This state is being managed, right," concludes another boy.
What Does Haslam Want?
Cute kids. Technocratic appeals. Nothing controversial. The question we have is: what's Haslam's objective?When incumbents want to raise their national profile and be considered by the political establishment as a presidential or vice-presidential nominee, they want to avoid controversy and just win big. Is that what Haslam has is eye on? We'll find out soon enough.