The much too polite primary campaign season
John DePetro, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER
The much too polite primary campaign season
Is it political correctness? A desire to appear polite? Bad consulting? The campaign ads this Primary campaign season seem just so un-Rhode Island. Whatever happened to slinging mud and bashing your opponent with negative ads? So far this campaign season is stacked with lame boilerplate political ads all talking about “jobs” and putting “Rhode Island back to work”. Based on the record number of residents on food stamps, I am not sure people are in such a hurry to get back to the daily grind after the Chamber of Commerce summer we just had.
Congrats to Peter Kilmartin who has fired off the first negative TV spot of this primary season with a shot at both of his rivals. We have heard that this has been one of the toughest election seasons in a long while for hunting up donations, so the campaigns are short on money, and broadcast is not cheap. Some campaigns claim they are running “Internet ads”. Also known as a: 30 second spot on their Web site? Who exactly is that reaching? In a state where the voter profile skews more heavily toward the elderly, who may not even use a computer, than the younger internet saavy voter, waging an online ad campaign seems misguided. Mayor David Cicilline’s financial ability to be running a conventional TV ad where he’s meeting with and chatting up seniors may have more impact than a high-tech candidate Web site ad—because it will actually be seen by the very same type of seniors who actually go out and vote. The city of Providence is in a death spiral yet no negative ads are run against the Mayor of the “creative capital”?
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTSteven Constantino is running for Mayor of Providence and talks about “balanced budgets”. Last time I checked, under his leadership the state was $600 million in the hole, so I am unclear about his idea of a “balanced budget”. Why no negative ad against Constantino? I feel like getting all the candidates together like the scene in “Animal House” where “Bluto” yells at the deltas about “what happened to the guts”? Who’s advising these ad campaigns? Martha Stewart? The overly polite primary campaign season has made politics in Rhode Island look more like a game of bad-mitten than a boxing match.
The only candidate whose campaign has actually made national press is Chris Young (the newer version of Tiny Tim) - and it was for singing to a TV anchor and proposing to his girlfriend at the end of a debate. Outside the state, the image of Rhode Island’s breed of politician may be shifting from crooked to crazy, thanks to Young. In Massachusetts this past spring, there were negative radio ads against Tim Cahill that knocked him down 12 points in 2 weeks. Hello Rhode Island ? Anyone care to follow the leader? The biggest snooze fest has been the GOP “battle” between Moffit and Robitialle. Back in 2002, Don Carcieri and Jim Bennett were like the Sox and Yankee’s compared to these Vic and John.. Laffey against Chafee was a classic battle where both camps hit back and forth like a prize fight.
Rhode Island is a mess, people are angry, and the current ads are all warm and fuzzy. If our political candidates cannot even measure the mood of the public, can we have much faith they can craft a plan to improve things? I hope Hurricane Earl blows some serious wind our way - it may be the only churning, raging event we’ll witness this September.
John DePetro can be heard weekday mornings 6-10A, on GoLocalProv media partner 630WPRO & 99.7 FM, and podcasts of show highlights are found at 630wpro.com