Hi everyone. I happened to be in Scottsdale last week, and judging by the yard signs and TV spots, the race for the Senate seat between Republican John Kyl and Democrat Jim Pederson is in full swing. John Kyl ousted Democrat Dennis Deconcini in 1994 as part of the Contract of America, and despite pledging to the two terms as part of the CoA, guess who is running for a third term? I don't know much about Pederson, other than that his campaign slogan (Nobody's Senator but Ours) is a lot like Wisconsin's own Herb Kohl's (Nobody's Senator but Yours).
Anyway, I saw a couple of TV spots for each, and if they're any indication, labeling a Democrat as "liberal" (gasp!) is going to be an issue in 2006. More on the flip.
Thanks for sticking around.
First, we'll start with Kyl's ad (sorry, I haven't seen any ads online, though if anyone finds them and feels like linking...). They're the run-of-the-mill Repugnant ads, full of menacing, vague threats of what could happen if a Liberal was elected. The scary music, the all caps messages, the whole bit. The ad really stressed how Pederson is Liberal, like John Kerry, even citing Kerry by name. (I don't think the ad linked Kyl with Bush necessarily, but it really was "attacking" Pederson for being, well, Democratic.)
The Pederson ad was what really interests me, though. It really focuses on Pederson's ability to "bring people together," starting with the fact that you learn to negotiate early when you're one big family in a house with one bathroom. Toward the end of the spot, he promises to be an indpedent voice in the Senate, saying that he doesn't care if an idea "is a Republican idea or a Democrat idea."
Although I appreciate the concept of bringing people together and looking beyond one's political party, Pederson's ad still bugs me because he's not saying how proud he is to be a Democrat, how lousy the conservative ideology has served the country, how his opponent is breaking his two-term-limit promise, or anything like that. Although the ad wasn't a "response" to the Kyl ad, per se, this is how it looks:
KYL: You're a no-good, spineless Democrat!
PEDERSON: I'm not a Democrat; I'm an independent!
I really know next to nothing about Arizona politics: maybe it's a hevily red state, maybe Kyl's a shoo-in, whatever. But if this is the tactic Pederson is taking --- or any Democrat is planning on taking --- I don't think it's going to be successful. If you're not proud of what you and your party stands for, I don't think you're going to win. Taking the role of the "political outsider" will get you a few votes, but saying you're apolitical but running for political office...well, I don't see it happening.
I hope this isn't the whole campaign theme for Pederson, or, if it is, that it doesn't spread to other states. It saddens me that some Democrats are still thinking this way. (If any Arizonians want to correct a bad impression on my part, I'm all ears!) This is something to nip in the bud now, if we can.