Posted on 06/23/2002 6:38:25 AM PDT by nralife
Why is it that Rick Perry does not respond to all of the negative ads that Sanchez has been running?
I can very easily seeing Perry getting beaten this fall. Somebody better wake this guy up before it is too late. Or is Perry trying to lose this thing on purpose???
Never mud-wrestle with a pig. You get all dirty and the pig enjoys it.
The candidate who is behind--especially if he is challenging an incumbent--is ALWAYS going to run more negative advertising.
The front-runner does himself a disservice by deigning to NOTICE these ads; it says "I'm afraid of this guy and I think he's a danger to my candidacy." Perry's strategy is tried-and-true.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Granted. But why is Perry still sitting on his hands? He could at least run some positive ads about himself. I don't get it. Maybe Perry really is inept? If Sanchez wins by a large margin, he could have coat tails enough to get Ron Kirk elected as Senator. Ugh!
Exactly. Sanchez can outspend Perry 10:1 and never bother to raise a cent of donation money.
I want Perry to win. I expect Sanchez to win. Darn it.
I'm not talking about ONLY attack ads. Sanchez is outspending Perry about 20 to 1 on ANY kind of ads...
I watch a bit of local TV now and again, usually as a captive audience when I'm at the gym.
I have noticed no disparity between Perry and Sanchez ads.
But let's say for the sake of argument, that you're correct and Sanchez has this big blitz on which isn't being responded to by the Perry campaign. The likelihood is that's part of a grand strategy.
Sanchez has a lot of ground to make up, and I'm sure that Perry's campaign is enjoying the prospect of the Sanchez campaign spending themselves dry, just trying to be noticed.
Historically the great majority of people don't even pay any attention to political campaigns until just two or three weeks before the elections. Sanchez is preaching to a rows and rows of empty pews right now.
Sanchez is going to run out of money trying to get noticed, and then in October--just see if this doesn't happen--you'll see virtual saturation by the Perry campaign.
In short, Perry has the luxury of being the incumbent, and getting free airtime and newscolumn space just doing the "governor" thing. In October, when people are paying attention, his campaign can shift effortlessly into high gear and SWAMP th challenger who won't be able to keep up due to having no ad budget left.
N.B. One of the big mistakes that we political junkies make is thinking that other people are as interested in the details of politics and political campaigns as we are. Therefore, we think that if WE notice all this advertising, other people do, too. It just simply isn't so. I'll bet if you went to your local mall, and stood there with a clipboard, pretending to be one of those ubiquitous survey-takers, and asked, say, one hundred people who just happen to be walking by: "Who are the Republican and Democrat candidates for Texas Governor this year?" you'd be lucky to get 20% who know the correct answer to both, and I'll bet a good many of the rest won't even know who the DEMOCRAT is.
That may be true, but Perry's approval ratings (as far as I know) and his popularity among Texans is not that high. I understand what you are saying, but just how long can Perry withstand such an attack without responding. There is another school of thought brought about by X42, which worked well, that says all attacks must be responded to swiftly and viscously. It may not be time for that. I just Perry would do something, anything to help himself...
Historically the great majority of people don't even pay any attention to political campaigns until just two or three weeks before the elections. Sanchez is preaching to a rows and rows of empty pews right now.
I reference you back to what I said about Clayton Williams. Then there is the Hispanic surname of Sanchez to take into consideration. I have no data to back it up, but I would bet that many Hispanics have taken notice of who Sanchez is and what he is running for.
Anyway, your post has given me some comfort. Perry isn't perfect, but I hope he can pull it off against the unholy trinity the 'RATS are running.
Who Can Texas Trust?: Texas Gov. Rick Perry responded to a week of attack ads from Democratic challenger Tony Sanchez by releasing a commercial accusing Sanchez of supporting President Clinton’s 1993 federal tax increase. The Republican governor’s campaign hopes the ad will tap into any ill feelings that Texans have towards the ex-POTUS.
Pictures of Mr. Clinton dominate the ad. The first scene shows Sanchez meeting with Mr. Clinton at the White House claiming, “He stood with Clinton at the White House supporting the largest tax hike in history on families…later saying he could not remember being there,” and concludes with the announcer asking, “Texans never trusted Bill Clinton. Can Texas trust Tony Sanchez?”
Aides for Sanchez say the fact that Perry is running a negative ad is a sign that Sanchez is having an impact. “Rick’s in trouble. That’s why he ran it,” said Mark Sanders, a spokesperson for Sanchez. New Scripps-Howard polling data shows Perry’s job approval ratings have dropped from 63 percent earlier this year to 55 percent, although he still holds a substantial lead over Sanchez.
The recent ads are in reaction to commercials the Democrats have been running for over a month, attacking Gov. Perry on a wide range of issues such as homeowner’s insurance rates and making claims that Perry is obligated to special interests that have donated to his campaign.
Which candidate is more pro-Bush?
After Perry links him to Clinton, Sanchez cites ties to president
06/21/2002
AUSTIN – In a televised version of pin the party on the candidate, Democrat Tony Sanchez rebuffed his GOP rival's efforts Thursday to align him to his own party – by playing up his ties to the Republican president.
Gov. Rick Perry opened the exchange with a 30-second TV spot saying Mr. Sanchez attended a White House coffee with President Bill Clinton and embraced tax hikes in his economic-stimulus plan.
"Texans never trusted Bill Clinton. Can Texans trust Tony Sanchez?" an announcer says.
The Sanchez campaign fired back with a commercial of its own, touting Mr. Sanchez as an ally of President Bush and a better steward of his legacy as governor.
"Rick Perry?" the Sanchez spot asks. "He took George Bush's surplus and turned it into a deficit."
In the commercial, Mr. Sanchez says he was a Bush financial backer, served in his administration as an appointee and was once praised by Mr. Bush as a "great Texan."
The dueling attack ads were unveiled as a new poll was released Thursday that showed most Texans can't name an accomplishment by Mr. Perry during his 18 months in office.
According to The Texas Poll, 74 percent of Texans surveyed could not identify anything Mr. Perry has done since assuming the governor's office after Mr. Bush became president.
By contrast, in a similar survey three years ago, more than half of the Texans polled could cite a specific accomplishment of Mr. Bush as governor.
Mr. Perry also has not matched Mr. Bush's job-approval ratings.
As governor, Mr. Bush consistently got high marks from between 70 percent and 80 percent of those surveyed. In the new survey, Mr. Perry's job-approval rating was 55 percent, down 8 points from three months ago.
The Scripps Howard Data Center conducted the telephone survey of 1,000 Texans between May 20 and June 9. Its margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points, meaning the results can vary by that much in either direction.
Ray Sullivan, a Perry campaign spokesman, attributed part of the drop to negative campaign commercials by Mr. Sanchez.
"He has chosen the low road, that Jim Mattox-trash talking style of campaigning," said Mr. Sullivan, alluding to a former Democratic attorney general known for his aggressive campaign style.
"We're confident that this will be a temporary blip once Governor Perry gets his positive record and leadership message out to the people of Texas."
The Perry spot Thursday – the campaign's second negative attack on Mr. Sanchez – accuses the Democrat of having a pro-tax record because he supported Mr. Clinton's 1993 deficit-reduction package, which included tax increases.
The commercial includes video of Mr. Sanchez among a group of business leaders who traveled to Washington for an appearance at the White House.
Mr. Sanchez has said he didn't remember going to Washington, but said he supported reducing the deficit.
Mr. Sullivan said Mr. Sanchez is embracing Mr. Bush now but has "criticized and distanced himself from George W. Bush when it was politically expedient."
Within hours after the Perry spot began airing Thursday, the Sanchez campaign responded.
Bashing Mr. Perry for presiding over expanded state spending and vetoing health-care legislation, the Sanchez commercial seeks to burnish the Democrat's ties to the Republican president.
"Hand-picked by Governor Bush to the UT Board of Regents, Sanchez supported George Bush for president. Bush wrote Tony Sanchez, praising him as a 'great Texan,' " it says.
In the Democratic primary, Mr. Sanchez came under fire for being one of Mr. Bush's top contributors. He responded by talking up his Democratic credentials and saying he would not vote for Mr. Bush again.
Earlier this month, the president headlined a fund-raiser for Mr. Perry in Houston. And before that, he called Mr. Sanchez an error-prone candidate.
Mr. Sanchez said he considered the criticism political, not personal.
E-mail wslater@dallasnews.com
I guess the point is that not too many people are even noticing them. That's just a truism in politics. To me, Sanchez is making a HUGE strategic error by running these ads now. He ought to be saving his ammo for the final shootout.
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