The Schultz Report: The Franken campaign brings in a pro; will it matter?
Friday, May 16, 2008 at 12:30 pm
- 4 Comments
In this week’s Schultz Report, we discuss the denouement of the Democratic presidential nomination race, with particular attention to the Clinton camp’s argument that Obama can’t win white working class votes in sufficient numbers. But we begin with yesterday’s news that the Al Franken for Senate campaign has hired a DNC pro, Stephanie Schriock — who managed Jon Tester’s upset win over incumbent Sen. Conrad Burns in Montana two years ago — to head up its struggling operation.
For some time now, notes David Schultz, Franken has been “stuck in the polls. He gained a lot on Coleman, but in the last couple of months seems to be stuck 7 to 9 points behind him. I think the Democrats wanted to force some kind of change in terms of how he approaches the campaign — underscoring how important they believe it is to be able to knock off Norm Coleman this year.
“They brought in what looks like an experienced pro who may be able to use some of the techniques the DNC has used in the past couple of years and, more importantly, start to massage and change Franken’s image. That’s always been his biggest problem. I think the recent problems with taxes and the fact that he’s had somewhat of an amateur staff running his campaign suggests now that the DNC really wants him to have some professionals who will hopefully do a better job than he’s been doing so far.
“Six years ago, with Coleman and Wellstone, the media campaign started in January and February. I was anticipating it would happen here too. But in the last couple of months, Franken has been totally reactive in terms of the media. He’s done nothing outside of defending himself in the news. This would have been the perfect opportunity for him to do some ads.
“For somebody who is supposedly so media-savvy, between having his own radio show on Air America, and Saturday Night Live — somebody people thought would just be a darling of the media and know how to outflank Coleman [in this race] — it’s a real surprise. And it’s not like he’s broke, either. He’s got a lot of money. I’ll be curious to see in his [next] filings how he’s been spending that money. Is he putting it into staff, or what is he doing? It’s definitely a surprise that he’s run such a low-key media campaign in terms of getting his message out.”
Listen: David Schultz talks about the Franken campaign, the endstage of Obama/Clinton, and the California Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision (16:37)
More: See the anti-Obama Mississippi ad referenced in this week’s Schultz Report, which Republican Greg Davis ran in an effort to sink the candidacy of Travis Childers, who won a special election to the US House earlier this week. It’s below the jump.
Continued: Click “Read More”Greg Davis: Anti-Travis Childers ad featuring Barack Obama (:30)
4 Comments
Comment posted May 16, 2008 @ 9:34 pm
Not assuming anything It is interesting to note that Stephanie Schriock apparently will not be joining the Franken campaign until after the DFL state endorsing convention on June 6 to 8. Add to this that both Franken and Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer have pledged to drop out of the race if the other gets the endorsement. So bring Schriock’s arrival after the convention gives each side an out if Jack gets the endorsement.
At the CD8 convention in Duluth, in fact, Franken said that he would hold a big fundraiser with all his rich Hollywood friends, if Jack got the endorsement. Jack said that he had only one rich Hollywood friend, but that he would also invite him to a Franken fundraiser, if Franken got the endorsement.
Comment posted May 18, 2008 @ 9:01 am
Franken is being a gentleman to JNP JNP’s supporters have, by and large, decided not to be like Hillary supporters, and have, by and large, tried to stay above the belt in differentiating their candidate from the presumptive nominee.
There is some fear, though, that the anti-war democrats who make up JNP’s base are less than enthusiastic about supporting Al once he has tied up the endorsement. I think Al is trying to let democrats focus on the endorsement – is trying to let JNP supporters think it is still a fair game, even though Al is widely expected to win on the first ballot.
Attacking Norm on TV makes Al look like he thinks he’s the nominee. He is open to charges of Arrogance from Jack supporters if he does that. I think he is being overly courteous and should have called for Jack to drop out once he secured a majority of the pledged delegates, but he obviously feels he can afford to wait on the general election campaign until the endorsement is settled.
And I do have to agree with him on that. Coleman is laughably weak. Usually I find Dr. Schultz to have good analysis, but he seems overly bullish on Coleman’s chances. It took an act of God to elect Norm. And Franken isn’t flying around our state.
Comment posted May 16, 2008 @ 4:34 pm
Not assuming anything It is interesting to note that Stephanie Schriock apparently will not be joining the Franken campaign until after the DFL state endorsing convention on June 6 to 8. Add to this that both Franken and Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer have pledged to drop out of the race if the other gets the endorsement. So bring Schriock's arrival after the convention gives each side an out if Jack gets the endorsement.
At the CD8 convention in Duluth, in fact, Franken said that he would hold a big fundraiser with all his rich Hollywood friends, if Jack got the endorsement. Jack said that he had only one rich Hollywood friend, but that he would also invite him to a Franken fundraiser, if Franken got the endorsement.
Comment posted May 18, 2008 @ 4:01 am
Franken is being a gentleman to JNP JNP's supporters have, by and large, decided not to be like Hillary supporters, and have, by and large, tried to stay above the belt in differentiating their candidate from the presumptive nominee.
There is some fear, though, that the anti-war democrats who make up JNP's base are less than enthusiastic about supporting Al once he has tied up the endorsement. I think Al is trying to let democrats focus on the endorsement – is trying to let JNP supporters think it is still a fair game, even though Al is widely expected to win on the first ballot.
Attacking Norm on TV makes Al look like he thinks he's the nominee. He is open to charges of Arrogance from Jack supporters if he does that. I think he is being overly courteous and should have called for Jack to drop out once he secured a majority of the pledged delegates, but he obviously feels he can afford to wait on the general election campaign until the endorsement is settled.
And I do have to agree with him on that. Coleman is laughably weak. Usually I find Dr. Schultz to have good analysis, but he seems overly bullish on Coleman's chances. It took an act of God to elect Norm. And Franken isn't flying around our state.
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