Department of short-sighted cheap shots

The typical division of labor in campaigns nowadays is for the candidate to stay mostly positive when communicating with voters, while political parties or outside groups do the hatchet work on opponents. That pattern is already developing in the race for Iowa’s open U.S. Senate seat. Democratic candidate Bruce Braley is touting his record and his stands on the issues as a way to get his name out and identify supporters. Meanwhile, the Iowa Democratic Party has taken a few shots at candidates seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.

If future salvos look anything like the website the Iowa Democratic Party created to mock David Young, Braley might be better off without their help.

I considered writing this post more than a month ago, when the Iowa Democratic Party launched its “Welcome David Young to Iowa” site. I held off for two reasons. First, I did not want to be accused of reacting emotionally to an insult toward Iowans like me. (After living here from birth through high school, I studied or worked out of state for about 15 years, visiting regularly but not moving back until my husband and I were ready to start a family.)

Second, I figured that before long, the mocking website would look even more idiotic than it did at first glance.

Young’s resume presents an obvious line of attack. He has worked as a senior GOP staffer in the U.S. Senate for 17 years. During that time, the Senate has become increasingly dysfunctional and unable to conduct normal business. A primary reason is Republicans’ abuse of the filibuster, now a routine way to force a super-majority for almost every Senate motion. The last thing Iowa needs is a new senator steeped in that culture.

The Iowa Democratic Party took a different tack, labeling Young as a “Washington D.C. insider” who doesn’t understand even the basics about our state.

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Humor can work in political advertising but must be used with care. Living outside the state of Iowa is not a mental defect. No one who grew up here develops amnesia from living in another part of the country.

By the way, the last two Democratic governors of Iowa were raised and educated in east-coast states. Also, two likely Democratic candidates in the first Congressional district were born outside this country: Anesa Kajtazovic and Swati Dandekar. Their life experiences differ from the norm in our state but do not undermine their ability to represent Iowans well. On the contrary.

Young reacted to the putdown with class:

Although he’s flattered that the Iowa Democratic Party has a website devoted to introducing him to Iowa, Young says it’s not necessary.

Sure, he’s spent the past 20 years working in Washington, the last seven as Sen. Chuck Grassley’s chief of staff, but Young says he’s an Iowan through-and-through.

“Growing up, I worked on farms, I baled hay, I walked beans and scooped a lot of you-know-what,” he said this morning. He also waited tables, delivered newspapers and worked at the Iowa State Fair.

Given the number of Iowans working in Grassley’s office and visiting it each day, “It’s like you never left Iowa.”

The Iowa Democratic Party should not have picked this fight. No one benefits from making the Senate race a pissing match over who’s a “real Iowan.”

A little further down the screen, the website makes fun of Young’s house.

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Gee, who was the Iowa Democratic Party’s last nominee for U.S. Senate? Oh, I remember, it was the woman who lives in a house assessed at more than $1.7 million–that’s Des Moines real estate values, not Washington, DC.

The Iowa Democratic Party’s new hopeful in the third Congressional district put her Warren County home on the market for an asking price of $1.5 million earlier this year.

Retiring Senator Tom Harkin doesn’t exactly live in a poorhouse either.

The Senate race shouldn’t be about whether one candidate lives in too fancy a house, but about what the candidates stand for.

The Iowa Democratic Party did get around to Young’s temperament, using his own words to depict him as resistant to compromise.

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Nice try. Next time don’t use a stock photo of Canadians when you’re trying to portray “real Iowans.”

I don’t mean to exaggerate the significance of a website viewed mainly by political junkies, but “Welcome David Young to Iowa” points toward a troubling attitude at Iowa Democratic Party headquarters. The site appears to have been slapped together without anyone thinking the message through, or how this mockery might reflect on past and future Democratic candidates for high office.

I doubt Republican primary voters will choose a professional Congressional staffer as their Senate nominee, but as stronger contenders enter the race, like Joni Ernst and Mark Jacobs, the Iowa Democratic Party needs to respond with more than lazy cheap shots.

If this were an isolated case, I might not have bothered to write this post. Unfortunately, the Iowa Democratic Party’s messaging in the 2010 and 2012 election cycles left a lot to be desired. I’m all for a hard-hitting, issue-based spot like the television commercial the party ran against “personhood” supporter Matt Reisetter in Senate district 30. But it’s wrong (not to mention stupid) to run a deceptive personal attack like the party’s tv ad against Jane Jech in Senate district 36.

Shortly after being chosen as the new state party chair, Scott Brennan told O.Kay Henderson that he plans to focus on fundraising and working with Republican Party leaders to help keep Iowa first in the presidential nominating process. I would suggest that Brennan and other party leaders focus more attention on messaging, so Democrats’ independent expenditures next year don’t end up hurting the candidates they are trying to help.

UPDATE: I missed Erin Murphy’s piece in the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald when it first came out in mid-June. Hope Iowa Democratic Party leaders will read carefully.

SECOND UPDATE: Although there’s no link, I think John Deeth had this post in mind when he wrote,

While we’re at it with the Ernst announcement, there was kvetching in the Twittersphere and what’s left of the blogosphere about the Democratic Party being “too negative” toward the GOP candidates when a press release labeled her “establishment approved.” Complaints about negative campaigning have existed since Ogg and Ugg ran against each other for chief of the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer tribe in One Million BC: “Ugg? More like Ugg-Ly. Me Ogg, me approve this message.”

You know what would stop negativity? If it stopped working.

To be clear, I am not against all negative messaging. If you read carefully above, I explained what I consider a reasonable case against David Young and cited an effective negative ad from the last election cycle.

That said, I strongly reject the premise that the Iowa Democratic Party’s negative messaging has been “working” in recent years. A lot of the direct mail, radio and television commercials have been of poor quality. There’s no doubt in my mind that shoddy attack ads have cost us votes and in a few cases, seats. Exhibit A would be the 2010 Iowa Senate race in Sioux City, which Rick Mullin lost by about 200 votes after days of headline local news coverage about his misleading television commercial. Of course no single factor explains a close loss, especially in a terrible year like 2010. But the Iowa Democratic Party’s communication team didn’t help Mullin’s cause.

Leaving campaign materials aside, I’ve seen a lot of too-clever-by-half, lame attempts by Iowa Democrats to win a news cycle. Case in point: thanking Mitt Romney for health care reform. I understand that the point was to underscore Romney’s hypocrisy on the issue, but the sarcasm just didn’t work.

Finally, “establishment approved” is a stupid message against Joni Ernst when the whole Democratic establishment has closed ranks around our nominee for U.S. Senate.

About the Author(s)

desmoinesdem

  • Young

    I agree that it was a waste of time to put up a site about Young.  I think Grassley and Harkin do so well in this state because they are for the most part extremely authentic.

    I think Dems are constantly painted as Volvo driving millionaires who don’t really practice what they preach.  I think the site is trying to give someone like Young a taste of their own medicine.  It may be better suited for a Goldman Sachs guy like Jacobs however.

    Dems win when they prove they are more authentic.  (Joe Manchin, Jon Tester, Ken Salazar, Mary Landrieu)  It was the point that Braley was making when he talked about working on county roads as a young man when he was “questioning” Scott Walker.  People want to prove that they have walked in each other’s shoes so to speak, I don’t necessarily take the site as anti-outside however.

    I agree with you though that it is a huge waste of time and resource though, particularly since we don’t know their nominee.  I think Obama was successful at painting Romney and McCain as too aloof to connect with the working stiff or the upper income, soccer mom, suburbanite.

    BTW if one of these Republicans had to be in the U.S. Senate representing us, I think I would probably prefer Young.  

    • anyone worried about

      the “limousine liberals” stereotype should not be taking a shot at David Young’s townhouse.

      I would not want a career Senate Republican staffer representing Iowa under any circumstances.  

      • Young

        I see Young as maybe  third, fourth or fifth in the likelihood to get the nomination so I think we are just throwing stuff out there.  

        I do think his experience as a staffer for Grassley probably verifies that he would be most likely and helpful if people have questions about basic services or a federal agency.

        I have got to see what Jacobs brings to the table, but I don’t see anyone else in their field pining to become an expert in constituent services.  It is silly that they feel that way though.  We all know people that may not the ideology of their state perfectly, but they answer the phone.

        People in rural Western Illinois would call Lane Evans’s office in the 80’s and into the 90’s and Lane was sometimes the first person that you would talk to.  Lane is to the left of his former constituency as a whole, but people loved him because he genuinely cared and showed up to work.  This is how Phil Hare ended up getting elected to Congress, he played a huge role in maintaining the legacy of Lane Evans.  

        • when Young starts running tv ads

          I expect a string of “real Iowans” talking about how they contacted Grassley’s office for help with this or that, and David Young really listened, helped take care of their problem.

  • Well written....

    Excellent post desmoinesdem.  Frankly neither side needs these disgusting sites and trash ads.  While we are clearly not returning to  positive politics anytime soon, I prefer to hear and see well reasoned arguments anytime.

    Nice job.

    • I don't even mind negative ads

      if they are grounded in facts and not petty stereotypes.

      I hope you will urge your fellow Republicans not to play the “real Iowan” card in the future. I will never forget Tom Latham’s disgraceful ads against “Massachusetts professor Sheila McGuire” in 1994. She was born and raised here, did undergrad and med school at the U of Iowa and had lived outside the state of Iowa for all of THREE YEARS, doing a post-doc at Harvard before returning to set up a practice in Boone. For that Latham branded her a “Massachusetts professor.” Very low.

  • agreed

    It is no small task to develop and pay for a website including the brainstorming sessions. That time might have been better spent you know raising money for the Party. If people in tech or communications are bored, put them on the phone asking for dollars and cents or working on a fund raising email.

  • To each her own

    Personally, I’m more offended by people who are too “pure” to phone bank or door knock, and get their rocks off on getting arrested, screaming HEY HEY HO HO SOMETHING SOMETHING’S GOT TO GO at some Republican who’s never in a billion years gonna change positions. But that’s just me.

    People have been complaining about negative campaigning since the Roman Senate and yet candidates keep doing it. You know what would stop negative messages? If they stopped WORKING.

    • I don't mind negative campaigning

      if it’s based on something real, like a person’s voting record or policies they support.

      I am embarrassed by negative campaigning that is misleading or small-minded.

      I am frankly surprised that someone who’s gung-ho about Anesa Kajtazovic for Congress doesn’t see the problem with the IDP slamming David Young as not Iowan enough.

      I’ve done my share of phone banking and door knocking, and I used to donate to the IDP for many years. I am not giving them any more money until I have confidence it will be used wisely.

  • I don't agree that any of this is a cheap shot

    I’ve lived inside the D.C. Beltway myself for 20 years now and almost certainly will stay here for the rest of my career, and possibly into retirement which is still decades away for me.

    And this after I was born and raised in Ames and Marshalltown and went to college at Iowa State.

    And I don’t think any of this stuff against Young is a cheap shot.  They’re throwing the kitchen sink at him as a carpetbagger, a rich guy, and a D.C. insider.  I don’t see anything offensive at all.

    Your points are fair that there are reasonable responses to these Democratic attacks.  But so what?  It’s still reasonable to argue that after so long out of state, Young isn’t in touch with the state’s political needs and wants.  It’s still reasonable to argue that if he can afford a house that expensive, he’s out of touch with the state’s economic life.  It’s reasonable to suggest that as a D.C. insider, he shares a Beltway mentality that some/many voters think is damaging.

    You know, much of what the IDP is saying about Young, you could say about me if I moved home and ran for office.  And you know what?…I’m not sure after 20 years absent and living the life I’ve lived, I would necessarily make a good Senator for the state.  I should probably live there a number of years again before having a chance at being able to do a good job as an elected official.

    There is nothing unfair in the Democratic Party attacks here.  Are they arguable?  Yes.  Unfair?  No.

    On the efficacy of these attacks, they may or may not have any value, but web hits are a good way to test messaging, it’s inexpensive and you can test the reactions.  And once in awhile you throw the opposition off-balance and get them to say or do something self-damaging.  So there is really nothing lost by doing this.

    • websites are cheap

      but some messages aren’t worth testing.

      Young’s ad man is the same guy who made the “Grassley works” tv ads during the 2010 campaign. We are going to see and hear lots of stories from Iowans about how much Young helped them with this or that problem. Grassley’s constituent service is pretty good.

      I think you could go after the “beltway mentality” and the Senate Republican culture without implying that Young’s become too stupid to tell the difference between a barn and a silo.

  • What's not real?

    It’s cheesy, sure, and maybe not very effective.. But the underlying message – Young is a career DC staffer trying to re-establish now tenuous ties to his home state – isn’t an unfair critique. Certainly more fair than bashing someone as “non-Iowan” who moved here at age 10 from a refugee camp. (Based on my search traffic, that’ll come in due time.)

    I guess I’m just not Shocked And Offended by “Welcome To Iowa.” It probably took less time to put together than the post critiquing it did, and in the big picture it has zero impact. The only recent event that any non-political, non-media person will remotely remember in November 2014 is Branstad’s speeding incident.

    (For the record I moved here from somewhere else, and was greeted with open arms. Granted, I moved here from a bordering state.)

    • Resources

      John, you are one of the best political writers we have in our state.  We may disagree on ideological grounds from time to time, but I think you and I both know that Young is not likely to be much of a factor in this race.  It certainly doesn’t appear that way, but I could be wrong.  

      Staffers may be better served to comb through Ernst’s voting record or Clovis’s more “entertaining” statements on the radio.

      • they will keep hands off Clovis

        Every Democrat has to hope he’s the GOP nominee.

      • Maybe so

        Others have pulled off the DC staff to elected office path, but I don’t see it flying in the circa 2014 Iowa Republican primary electorate.

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