A rather significant "media gap" seems to have developed between Carson (D) and Coburn (R) in the Oklahoma US Senate race. Coburn, the NRSC, and now the uber-Conservative Club for Growth are all running very harsh "liberal" attack TV ads about Carson. All the GOP spots (as over-the-top and hideously untrue as they are) are very much on message and compliment one another very well.
My feeling is that these ads will hurt Carson significantly if they continue without a big response.
This is a critical point in the campaign. I was very glad to hear BlogPAC is getting involved here. Also, Thursday's endorsement of Brad Carson by former Dallas Cowboys and University of Oklahoma football coach Barry Switzer is a good jumping off point for building a strong final push. [By the way, Switzer's endorsement of Brad Henry for Oklahoma Governor in 2002 (along with the political dynamics associated with the state question to ban cock-fighting) is considered a big factor in Henry's huge upset win over Republican Steve Largent.]
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This disparity in advertising is especially obvious during local news breaks. I have yet to see a sustained push of impactful ads from Carson, DSCC, or others during local news in OKC. Carson has some good ads out there, and the DSCC ads are getting better, but I just haven't seen them nearly as often as Coburn's. Just tonight, for example, I must have seen 4 or 5 different vicious "liberal Carson" attack ads during local news breaks. Carson had zero. Maybe I'm just too hung-up on local news commercials. However, I'm betting that a lot of regular voters are tuned-in during these times...
I know Carson has been targeting ads more on cable channels than Coburn (at least, that's my sense of things). However, in light of today's SUSA poll showing Coburn leading Carson now...I think it's time that they reevaluate the strategy...or finally roll out the big guns, as has been planned all along.
Look, I'm certainly no media expert, but I'm pretty perceptive when it comes to figuring out what's going on underneath the surface here. My gut feeling is that Coburn is building some momentum now, especially since all of his "controversies" have been out of the headlines for a while. Maybe I'm all worked-up about nothing. Perhaps Carson's folks are targeting their ads so well I just haven't seen many (me being already solidly behind Carson). I hope that is the case. This race is totally winnable. I'd hate to see it start slipping away...which I feel could happen.
With the control of the US Senate in the balance, this race could most certainly be the difference between a Democratic-controlled Senate, or at least two more years of Frist, McConnell, and Santorum/Inhofe-types at the helm. Let's get this thing rolling!