Dominating the Senate race headlines this week was a leaked campaign memo from Democratic nominee in Georgia, whom their party establishment has touted as the vehicle to revival in the state for well over a year.
What a memo it was, too, laced with language that’s going to dog her campaign from now through November.
Some real whoppers could be found, including but not limited to – planning to raise more money out of state than in, admitting that a “Peach State Pledge” to reject outside groups pouring money into the race was a fundraising gimmick, and listing her message on Israel as “To Be Determined.”
The caveat of said position, or lack thereof, ensuring a fundraising goal from the Jewish community gets met over the course of the campaign.
It gets worse. A list prioritizing policy lists “rural issues” dead last – nevermind the fact that agriculture is Georgia’s number one industry.
Furthermore, Nunn’s campaign team worries that she’ll be perceived as “too liberal” and unable to connect with rural Georgians, given the reality that she grew up far away from the Middle Georgia stomping grounds of her family’s roots.
What’s drawn the most headlines is the concern expressed regarding Nunn’s time at the helm of Points of Light. The group validated as a charity organization, in turn equaling a $33,000 grant, a group that has ties to Hamas and has been banned from being active in Israel.
Already the first ad hitting many of the above points is on the airwaves, and a poll conducted early in the week shows her trailing Perdue by 9 percentage points.
Chuck Todd stated earlier in the week that “it’s everybody’s worse stereotype of what politicians look like.”
Separately, a key component of a National Journal story noted the memo and mused on the fact that red state Democrats just don’t appear genuine when they say they’re different than those within the national party.
In other words, big trouble for Michelle Nunn.
Perhaps more than any other, the damage done to Nunn’s campaign this week speaks to the broader conundrum confronting red state Democrats nationwide.
In order to win, she and others must convince a lion’s share of folks who did not vote for Obama, disapprove of his policies, and aren’t fans of Harry Reid that they won’t choose them over their constituents when the pressure is applied.
Flying in the face of that effort is a Nunn memo literally listing issue positions as “to be determined” by what can meet a fundraising target within that community. That’s side by side with notes on the importance of connecting with rural Georgians while listing “rural issues” dead last, not to mention noting the need to build a coalition of hunters yet depending on maximum donations from Michael Bloomberg to fill the warchest.
As for the targeted constituency a sportsmen’s coalition would be aimed at – the media.
You’d have to imagine something so similarly brazen exists within the campaign war rooms of Alison Lundergan Grimes, John Walsh, Natalie Tennant, and others.