The short and sweet is that Jay Inslee our D for Governor in WA State has poor name recognition. What can we do about it?
Hi everybody. I've taken a break from writing the Inslee diaries in order to help get our Thurston County Democratic campaign office up and running and to deal with marketing Obama Gear. It's quiet at the office today because most everyone is in Seattle for the WA State Democratic Convention and I'm manning the front desk. Yesterdays diary by lawsyl caught my eye so I thought it was time to jump back in.
New Poll Good News for Inslee and Marriage Equality
Please take a few minutes to read the whole thing. This in particular caught my attention.
As a US Representative he's (Jay Inslee) not as well known around the state as AG Rob McKenna who has been on the statewide ballot twice before, winning re-election at Attorney General in 2008 with 59% of the vote. 52% of the respondents in the poll had no opinion or were unfamiliar with Inslee, which contrasts with 42% for McKenna.
As a US Representative Jay Inslee simply isn't as well known or as associated with state government as Rob McKenna the state's atty general. Even so the race is essentially tied. When we erase the name recognition factor presumably Inslee's number's will improve. So what can we do?
I know what the campaign will do which is largely rely on TV advertising but then so will McKenna and it's not going to be pretty. McKenna raised $850K in the past quarter alone in his own name. This doesn't count any Citizen's United type PAC money or Republican Party money that will be thrown into the over saturated airwaves. My guess is that at some point TV and radio advertising becomes so saturated that it begins to have a negative effect and while I wouldn't discourage money donations I strongly believe that we are going to be out spent so there has to be another path to the governorship rather than buying it.
So practically speaking it seems that what we can do largely depends on how important we think the governorship of WA State is and how hard we are willing to fight for it. This is going to be a hard nut to crack and has the hallmarks of another cliff hanger election that our state is so famous for. McKenna probably has the financial edge, he has the name recognition, he has a well organized and having previously won state wide elections he has a well rehearsed campaign group. McKenna is Catholic which is the state's largest religious group and his right wing positions on marriage and the right to choose give in the edge in the right wing Protestant and second largest group the Mormons. Still the race is close because we are fundamentally a progressive state.
The election campaign expands next week with the opening of regional field offices whose job it is to implement the GOTV effort. If you have time and the inclination please donate time. The main thing we have going is that boots on the ground will beat dollars in the bank. 1% can't beat 99% if the masses are riled up enough.
If you are in SW Washington and would like to work on the Inslee or Obama Campaign please contact us. We have a great facility this year with lots of space, a great Wi-fi system and off street parking. The Inslee field campaign will be headed here by Xandre Chateaubriand 425-205-0355 and the Obama Campaign is Dillon Gilbert at 253-343-7374 or you can call Thurston County Democrats direct at 360-956-0235.
Yard signs and bumper-stickers are available. If you have a good location and can't get downtown to get one we'll bring it to you.
Otherwise how hard are you willing to work and what else can we do to tip the scales further in our favor?