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Kirk’s message discipline, Giannoulias’ Labno love and the First Lady comes to town

Wednesday, Sep 22, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* This interview with Mark Kirk was obviously a frustrating experience for the AP staff…

While insisting Illinois voters deserve “more honesty” from politicians, Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk repeatedly ducked questions or fell back on stock answers Tuesday when pressed about his military record, attacks on his opponent and other issues in one of the nation’s most-watched Senate races.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Kirk repeated his past apologies for exaggerating his accomplishments in the U.S. Naval Reserve, but would not comment in detail about the false claims or say why he made them. […]

Kirk refused to say whether he agrees that Alexi Giannoulias, his Democratic rival for the Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama, is a “failed mob banker” — a label used almost daily by Republican allies and his own campaign. […]

Kirk was so precise during the hourlong interview that he described Giannoulias’ actions with virtually the same phrase — “he lent a tremendous amount of money to mobsters and felons” — eight times. […]

Kirk also has suggested he came under fire while an observer on flights over Kosovo and Iraq, but he repeatedly refused Tuesday to discuss those incidents or even confirm whether they took place.

I get that Kirk’s past problems with the truth means he has to watch every word he says, but constantly avoiding questions by repeating the same phrase over and over again will drive reporters absolutely batty.

On the other hand, give him props for staying on message. What some candidates fail to realize is that just because a reporter asks you a question more than once doesn’t mean you have to answer it.

* In other news, the Daily Caller takes a look at Alexi Giannoulias’ campaign attempting to inform voters through the media that the Libertarian Senate candidate is the only pro-life, pro-gun person in the race…

Brian Gaines, an associate professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a member of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs, expressed doubts that either a Green or Libertarian candidate with little money and little name recognition could steal a significant number of votes to make a difference. “For Giannoulias, the risk of mentioning [Labno] at all is that it smacks of desperation,” he told The Daily Caller in an e-mail. “In his bid to ridicule Kirk, he could end up looking like a guy grasping for straws, wasting his breath on trivial points in the absence of a compelling message.”

He may be right if it’s only an earned media message, but since I first commented on this development I’ve been hearing about a planned paid media message via direct mail through an independent expenditure. We’ll have to see if it comes to fruition.

* Speaking of earned media…

First lady Michelle Obama will visit Chicago on Oct. 13 to help raise money for state Democrats leading up to the Nov. 2 mid-term elections.

Obama will appear at a fundraiser for Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias and at a joint fundraiser for Reps. Bill Foster and Debbie Halvorson and House candidate Dan Seals, her office announced today.

Don’t expect the first lady to take sharp aim at the Republicans.

Instead, an official said, Mrs. Obama will talk about how the country is beginning to turn a corner in terms of strengthening the middle class. She will highlight insurance coverage for children with pre-existing conditions, protection from hidden credit-card fees, work-life balance and other topics, the official said.

That visit will be covered heavily, and, of course, it ought to raise a whole bunch of cash for paid media.

* Related…

* Education Secretary Arne Duncan will campaign for Democrats: Duncan also mentioned plans to campaign for Virginia Rep. Tom Perriello and Illinois Senate hopeful Alexi Giannoulias.

* LeAlan Jones Says “Meet the Press” Is Blacking Him Out

* DSCC Attacks Mark Kirk on Jobs in New Ad

* Truthish or Falsey: DSCC Says Kirk Is Indifferent to the Unemployed, Minimum Wage Earners

* New exchange in Kirk/Giannoulias TV war

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*** UPDATED x2 - DSCC goes up *** SEIU rolling out big push to excite Obama voters

Friday, Sep 17, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The people working with the Democrats’ coordinated campaign have been saying for weeks that they hope to convince people who didn’t vote in 2006, but voted in 2008 for Barack Obama to come out on November 2nd. The coordinated campaign has a staffer overseeing this effort.

SEIU is apparently taking the lead. From Progress Illinois…

According to [Jerry Morrison, the political director of SEIU’s state council], there are around 875,000 voters in Cook County who voted in the 2008 presidential contest but not in the 2006 governor’s election; many, but not all, are newly registered voters. SEIU will target about 500,000 of them, beginning with a $1 million advertising blitz it will roll out in a couple of weeks. The goal is increasing the likelihood that at least 100,000 of those folks head to the polls.

Off-year elections are tough. Lots of folks just don’t vote unless the presidency is on the ballot. The union has commissioned a poll to see what will motivate this targeted audience. Most plan on sitting out the election…

However, 41 percent of respondents told BNP that three messages made it “extremely likely” they would vote: One focused on Republicans attacking Obama and possibly trying to repeal the 14th Amendment, which guarantees all citizens equal legal protections. Another ties Obama with other Democratic candidates, saying Obama and the Democrats want to restore the economy and clean up the mess President George Bush left behind. The last focuses on “Sarah Palin and the Tea Party crowd” wanting Democrats to stay home on Election Day.

References to the ex-Alaska governor and the Republicans proved the most motivating, according to the memo, trumping issues like crime, state budget cuts, or student loan issues. “Two of the three top testing messages also have to do with Republicans, including Sarah Palin, taking the country backwards,” a summation of the poll reads. “The best motivating messages are dominated by evoking negative images of what could happen, more from an ideological perspective than one focused on issues.”

“It is a very partisan message, which is that Sarah Palin and the Republican Party want to take power so they can stop the Obama agenda,” Morrison said. Final decisions about the messaging strategy are still being made.

The union won’t do phone-banking or direct mail, but it’s planning to buy ads on websites, place banners on buses and trains and in the Trib’s Red Eye. It will also use mass text messages…

The point is to deploy the message where the Obama voters actually are. Fifty-six percent of respondents in BNP’s poll reported sending a text message every day, 42 percent search Google every day, and 30 percent use Facebook every day (all the rates are higher for weekly usage). Nearly one in four respondents rides a CTA bus at least once a week while almost one in five rides the train weekly. Just 15 percent reported getting most of their news by reading a local newspaper. Thirty-one percent said they got their news from local television broadcasts.

Thoughts?

*** UPDATE 1 *** Republican consultant Smart Media Group just claimed on Twitter that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has “just placed a broadcast buy in Chicago to start on 9/20.” We’ll see soon enough.

*** UPDATE 2 *** CQPolitics has the buy amount. Smallish…

The DSCC placed a quarter million dollar independent expenditure broadcast buy in the Chicago media market on Friday, according to a Republican source who tracks Democratic ad buys. […]

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has yet to spend any IE money on the race, but it has announced plans to move $3.4 million to Kirk in the form of coordinated funds. Unlike independent expenditures, coordinated funds are limited and $3.4 million is the maximum that the Senate committees can spend in Illinois this cycle.

* More stuff…

* Huntley: Tea Party unsettles regular GOP, too

* Conservative rally has elements of old-time politics

* Brady bringing NJ Gov. Chris Christie to Springfield for rally

* Simon, Kelly to be at forum today

* Rutherford gives $900 campaign donation back to bank

* Paralyzed ex-cop eyes Council seat

* First Rolling Meadows mayoral candidate steps up

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