I want to get back to thinking about the concept of political Brands and how they play into the No-Runoff Democratic Primary for the US Senate seat being vacated by Florida Republican Mel Martinez in 2010.
In my infamous "jumping the shark" piece The World Shifts! I received the opprobrium of many fellow bloggers when I compared State Sen. Dan Gelber to former presidential primary contender John Edwards. I think it was the comment, "I wonder how much Dan pays for his haircuts" that really got everyone.
Sure, that comment was a low blow, but as I pointed out in my piece on White Privilege Bias, it was meant to be. I was using strong political satire to make a point, just like Stephen Colbert does (though, obviously, he does it MUCH better).
My goal in making the comparison was to taint the Gelber candidacy by associating it with the discredited Edwards Brand. Now, I don’t really think Dan Gelber gets $400 haircuts or has an issue with keeping his pants zipped. But, I DO think that he represents the same unsuccessful, old, tired politics that John Edwards did.
These could best be described as "The Good Liberal" politics. These are exemplified here in Florida by three Democratic statesmen, Reuben Askew, Bob Graham, and Lawton Chiles. At the time, the politics represented by these men was progressive.
But times change.
John Edwards didn’t understand that and was quickly eliminated in the presidential race. Not because he was a bad person or didn’t care about truly helping people, but rather because the story he had to tell us about ourselves was no longer sustaining. The same is true of Dan Gelber.
What Dan needs to fully understand is how the Obama campaign and its success have changed everything. Now, I don’t mean just in techniques.
Yes, I can see that he’s sort of using long tail niche internet marketing, though that "Donate to the campaign. (Please!)" is kind of pathetic.
Yes, I know that he hired Steve Schale, who was put in charge of Obama’s campaign in Florida.
But, hiring Schale and then claiming the Obama Brand as your own is like Royal Crown Cola hiring a Coca-Cola executive and then claiming they are the Best Selling Soda In the World. It doesn’t quite work that way.
Gelber is the type of politician who wants to put out a laundry list of policies like Edwards did and then try to run on them. But this approach has been criticized by many as hopelessly ineffective.
In my Blessed Are the Meek post I listed clear ways that a Gelber candidacy would fall short in terms of what has to be the number one priority of all Democrats in Florida, consolidating the victory of 2008 and working to make the Party dominant in the state:
Is Dan Gelber a better choice for US Senate? Let’s run through the list of items I have discussed:
Can he do a better job of reaching out to those young and Black voters who had their first experience with electoral politics with the Obama campaign?
No.
Can he do a better job of re-energizing the vast Obama network of volunteers?
No.
Can he do a better job mediating the hard feelings between the GLBT and Black communities after the defeat of Amendment 2?
No.
Can his presence on the ticket prevent Republicans from demagoguing against the Redistricting Reform Amendments concerning majority-minority districts (ESPECIALLY IF THEIR CANDIDATE WAS DENIED IN THE PRIMARY)?
No.
So what exactly does he bring to the table that Rep. Meek doesn’t?
NOTHING!
This is the same reason no one responded to Edwards’ message in the presidential race and why he dropped out so early. He really just didn’t contribute anything new. His campaign was an anachronism. So is Gelber’s.
As I pointed out in The End of the World as We Know It his Days of Service is a take-off of Gov. Graham’s work days. That’s a model of campaigning that is THIRTY FIVE YEARS OLD!!!!
No wait, Dan’s hip, he has a "mash-up" video on his site. Wow, just like Yes We Can from Will.i.am, except that IT"S JUST HIM TALKING!!! Well, at least he’s not rapping and throwing gang signs, so we can be thankful for that.
Look, I know he’s a good man and his heart’s in the right place, but this isn’t his race.
The 2008 elections were about Hope and Change. The 2010 elections here in Florida can continue on that theme. But not with someone living in the LAST CENTURY as the Democratic nominee for US Senator.
Dan has a different role to play to help make that happen.