More bumps in the bumper-sticker phase (Kathleen Kennedy Townsend's Campaign Falling Apart)

Sunspot (Baltimore Sun Online) ^ | August 18, 2002 | C. Fraser Smith

[PJ-Comix]

BUMPER STICKERS and lawn signs don't vote, but they start conversations.

Why are there so many more "Ehrlich for Governor" strips?

Who's putting out the red and blue one that says, "Democrats work/Republicans whine"?

And what about, "You're better qualified than Kathleen"?

It's all part of a campaign's early phase, the one where you try to become a household word. You oil up the apparatus so it can get the converts and the base to the polls.

Thus do party professionals express high anxiety about Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend's campaign.

[PJ-Comix]

Who's putting out the red and blue one that says, "Democrats work/Republicans whine"?

Could this be a Typo? Actually the reverse is true.

But some black voters tell pollsters they're voting for her Republican opponent, Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. Usually, most African-Americans don't even think about voting for Republicans.

Usually Demmycrats run candidates who are smart enough to know about politics but this rule is waived when the Candidate has that magic "Kennedy" name.

Pandering after voter blocks is hardly exceptional, either. But hauling out an 81-year-old about-to-retire state senator to reassure your most loyal supporters fell on the desperate side of the scale.

What is KKT trying to do? Kill that poor guy?

She's losing by wide margins where presumably Marylanders know her best.

KKT can't hide the fact that she is a total airhead from those who know her best.

Some prognosticators expected the Kennedy forces to soldier on until their advertising men carpet-bombed Mr. Ehrlich into the Stone Age.

Translation: "Smear Ehrlich".....And don't worry. They will. Oh how they WILL smear Ehrlich. I have faith in them.

If wrongdoing is uncovered, that would suggest she was out of touch, reminding voters of her boot camps, where inmates were beaten and abused without her knowledge.

Good news for KKT! If she loses this race, she can go to work as a producer for the Maury Povich Show. He loves that whole boot camp shtick.

[PJ-Comix]

FYI

[End The Hypocrisy]

Maryland's such a bastion of socialism, as so many of the bureaucrats from D.C. live there. It would be very good for conservative causes to restore some sanity to that parasitic state of leeches by helping a Republican governor win.

[Nonstatist]

She lives in Ruxton, a Baltimore County neighborhood. Democrats who ought to be running confidently beneath her banner are shying away.

There are few if any "Townsend for Governor" signs in Ruxton. In fact, given her waning money advantage, if I were her I'd wonder where all the campaign money went to, too (along with the State's monies)

[CollegeRepublican]

Do you get the feeling that sooner or later the Sun and the Post are going to start running smear articles and editorials against Ehrlich. I have the feeling that after Labor Day there are not going to be these negative articles about KKT, we are only going to hear how Ehrlich is a racist, gun-nut, who wants to kill Granny and Pap.

I am trying to not get my hopes up about this election. After all, it is Maryland. In my four years on FreeRepublic I have followed all of the elections very closely and I always get my hopes up, to then be disappointed. I hope the Liberal slime Kennedy goes down. Maryland needs a change.

[CollegeRepublican]

I actually saw some KKT yard signs on the Eastern Shore yesterday. I went surfing and to check out my hunting property and saw KKT signs in Cambridge and Salisbury. However, these signs were small and only in the "lower rent" areas of da'shore. I did see a bunch of Ehrlich bumper stickers and some big 4'x6' Ehrlich/Steele signs along Rt. 50.

[rabidralph]

Last weekend I went to visit some friends in St. Mary's county, in southern Maryland. I drove Rte. 4 from PG County to Rte. 235. All along the way I didn't see a single KKT roadsign or yard sign. Everything was EHRLICH down there. I don't know the affiliations of all the other people in those local races, but every sign for governer said Ehrlich. I drove through PG, Calvert, Anne Arundel and St. Mary's counties. It was heartening to see. I don't see too many KKT bumper stickers that often either. Maybe a handful in socialist Bethesda, MD but as I drive home to Anne Arundel, Ehrlich is all I see. I hope he pulls off the upset.

[Chief Inspector Clouseau]

Do you get the feeling that sooner or later the Sun and the Post are going to start running smear articles and editorials against Ehrlich. I have the feeling that after Labor Day there are not going to be these negative articles about KKT, we are only going to hear how Ehrlich is a racist, gun-nut, who wants to kill Granny and Pap.

You know, two months ago I would've agreed wholeheartedly, but the way the media is treating KKT suggests to me that they believe her campaign is nearly DOA. I was STUNNED when WJZ (Baltimore Channel 13) did a story contrasting Ehrlich's $20 a head crab-feast fundraiser in Dundalk (with real people) with KKT's $2,000 a head fundraiser on Martha's Vineyard (with fake people). They even pointed out that "Media were not allowed anywhere near the Kennedy compound, so we cannot provide any comment from the Townsend campaign." They then ran a very folksy interview segment with Ehrlich from his crab feast. How do you suppose that whole sequence plays in Maryland?!!

The Sun has much the tone in its coverage right now. In the past, the local media would give that level of negative scrutiny to Glendenning, only *AFTER* he won the election.

To be sure, if KKT picks up momentum, the press will drop Ehrlich like a hot potato and run swooning "Camelot" footage every night. But right now, I think they see her as a poor candidate running an awful campaign...and Ehrlich as a VERY likeable and electable statesman. Given that contrast, I think they have almost no choice but to lean toward Ehrlich for now...

[Coop]

I drove from VA up to PA this weekend, along the Beltway and up I-83. I only saw a handful of yard signs and bumper stickers, but every one of them was for Ehrlich. So by my scientific calculations, the current poll numbers now stand at Ehrlich - 100%, Townsend - 0%.

Disclaimer: This poll has a 6% level of confidence, with a 95% margin of error.

A separate PA yard sign/bumper sticker poll conducted at the same time shows Fisher leading Rendell 100%-0%. (Same disclaimer)

[PJ-Comix]

I went surfing and to check out my hunting property and saw KKT signs in Cambridge and Salisbury.

Birthplace of PJ-Comix!!!

[Chief Inspector Clouseau]

The Ehrlich bumper sticker/yard sign advantage is indeed overwhelming...signs of an energized support base (from both parties).

There is virtually no doubt that Ehrlich will win 21 of Maryland's 23 counties. However, KKT's victory margins in the other two (Montgomery and Prince George's)--and in Baltimore City--will determine the election winner. Fraud, of course, will contribute to her margins, especially in the city.

Nonetheless, this is a winnable race: Saurbrey came within 5,000 votes of Glendenning in '94. Ehrlich has few of Sauerbrey's negatives, and KKT has all of Glendenning's negatives, plus a bunch of her own. Granted, there will not be a 1994-like national Republican tide this year, but Ehrlich can win this election...

[PJ-Comix]

I'm wondering if KKT has done something on a personal level to piss off the normally friendly press. Or maybe she is just such a total airhead that even they are disgusted by her running for governor (on the way to her White House bid).

[AbnSarge]

I read an article awhile back that said KKT was leading sing-alongs on the campaign bus. That would annoy me if I were one of the media leeches.

[Chief Inspector Clouseau]

Either scenario could be true, or a combination of both...but their conduct toward her is truly astonishing. I tend to think they are hedging their bets and trying not alienate Ehrlich...if KKT gains momentum, they know they can swing 180 degrees overnight and crank up the slime machine to bury Ehrlich.

[grumpster-dumpster]

I don't trust the media one little bit. The KKT and Bill Simon races are remarkably similar regarding media coverage. In both cases the mass-media has already "determined" the winner. But, like the good liberals they are, they are hedging their bets.

Please notice that every election cycle follows roughly the same trend. ("C" = Conservative; "L" = Liberal)

1. Media denounces candidate "L" and promotes candidate "C" prior to Labor Day (When supposedly the real race begins).
2. After "Labor Day" the media moderates their view and becomes "issue oriented" (The fact they choose candidate "L's" issues should not be lost on you by now.)
3. 30 days before the election... Candidate "C's" campaign fumes about media bias... Media points to all the good-press "C" got in the past.

IF:
- Candidate "L" wins: "The people have spoken... and the media honors that will"
- Candidate "C" wins: "Massive voter fraud and "disenfranchisement" questions are raised.

MEANWHILE, (Back in the Media Law Offices/Public Relations HQ):
Studies are presented showing that:
-The media is not biased because Candidate "C" won and they have the statistics to prove he got exactly 50% of the news-coverage!
-The media is not biased because Candidate "L" won despite the fact that 73% of the coverage went to "C."

Am I missing anything?

[CollegeRepublican]

I still think that the press in Maryland feels safe in printing negative articles on KKT before Labor Day and School starts and everyone starts paying attention to the race. Only political junkies like ourselves are keep track of KKT everyday in the papers and on the evening news. Unless this coverage continues after Sept. 2, I will think that this press is just a way for the papers to say, "Hey we were fair and balanced. Just look at all of our stories back in July and August about how stupid and incompentent KKT was" all the while blasting Ehrlich for being conservative, in with the Christian Right, Gun Nuts, and the Klan.

[CollegeRepublican]

I think that you summed up my rant perfectly. This is my fear with the KKT-Ehrlich race. Come October and Early November it will be burning crosses and dead grandparents blamed on Republican politics vs. Camelot and a Harvard education.

[grumpster-dumpster]

Thank you. I think your fears may be justified.

BTW, regrding the Bill Simon race: I admit it doesn't quite fit the profile... but his "loss in court" was just too good for them to pass-up!

[ArrogantBustard]

Ehrlich's $20 a head crab-feast fundraiser in Dundalk

Erlich is a real live Marylander (or at least knows how to act like one). Kooky Katie is, well, a kennedy. And a particularly dumb one at that. Here's hoping you guys can elect a decent governor, for a change.

AB

[John H K]

I drive around Maryland a lot....on the Eastern Shore, of course, I've seen about a thousand Ehrlich yard signs and bumper stickers...and not a single KKT one (though even in the last election, you'd see a Glendening sign/bumper sticker somewhere.

What AMAZES me is that the situation is exactly the same in Prince Georges, Anne Arundel, and Howard Counties on the Western Shore...I STILL have not seen a SINGLE KKT sign or bumper sticker yet.