OK my dear faithful readers, time for y’all to put some skin in the game. At least some of you. I am going to describe the situation here in Nevada, specifically Las Vegas, where I reside, and then ask you to comment on what’s going on in your own states. Those of you still waiting on your primaries are exempt, since your local political advertising is likely keyed on the primaries.
In my adopted state of Nevada, things were surprisingly pastoral. Both Democratic incumbent Governor Steve Sisolak, a well as Democratic incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto ran unopposed in the primaries. Even so, in the last 2 weeks leading up the primaries, both Sisolak and Cortez Masto ran puff pieces touting their accomplishments. A Sisolak aligned PAC also ran an attack trying to piss in potential opponent Joe Lombardo’s punchbowl as ineffective and extreme.
On the GOP side, there was almost total radio silence. The only ads I can remember seeing was one ad from former Senator Dean Heller, touting what would be a failed run for Governor. And far right pro life House candidate April Becker ran one puff piece, introducing herself to her constituents, complete with requisite adorable pic with the hubby and kiddie. That was it.
Our primaries were almost a month ago, and it just keeps getting weirder. Sisolak is still running puff pieces touting his accomplishments. He can do that because Clark County Sheriff hasn’t even stuck his head out of his hole. Shit, I had to Google the primaries just to find out who won the GOP gubernatorial primaries.
Cortez-Masto is still running her puff ads touting her accomplishments, but she’s also relentlessly hammering state Attorney General on his terrible performance, including his close ties to big oil, including slow walking an investigation into an Exxon scandal. Nice work in a state where we’re paying $5.10 a gallon. And House incumbent Susie Lee is hammering April Becker at least once, if not twice an hour on her abortion extremism.
Here’s where it gets weird. We’re less than 4 months from the election, and I haven’t seen a single ad from Laxalt, Lombardo, or Becker. Not only that, but when I’m out with Teri, I haven’t seen a single billboard or bus sign for any of them. Worst of all, there aren’t any GOP aligned Super PAC’s running attack ads against a single Democratic candidate. Back in 2020, we were inundated with those things. The Democrats have free rein right now to frame their opponents, without taking a single shot of return fire.
I’ve written previously about the GOP and RNC might have fundraising problems, since Traitor tot had almost a monopoly on fundraising from the base, and big money GOP donors were queasy about the extremist positions of pro Trump candidates. But this is ridiculous. When is the last time a voter literally had to resort to a Google search to find out who was on the GOP ballot in November?
Here’s what I want to know, dear readers. For those of you already in the general election race, like me, what are you seeing on your local and network television and billboard advertising? Is Nevada an outlier, or are GOP candidates all over trying to run their campaigns on the cheap? The only explanation I can think of is that they’re keying on social media advertising to reach their target audiences. Enquiring minds want to know.
Murphster: Here in Utah the primaries were only for Republicans. I’m a registered Dem and could not vote. However, in the upcoming general election I will be able to vote as we have an Independent running against Sen. Lee who I sincerely hope loses. the Indy guy has the support of the Utah Dem. Party. Otherwise, it’s pretty much Utah vanilla pudding.
When there is only a finite pool of money available, and Dimwit Donny has grabbed all of it for his own ‘fundraising’, it’s no surprise there is no money left for any one else.
I’m sure that all they have to do is ask Mr Trump nicely and the funds will flow. 🙂
LMAO!!! Fod I love your swarcasm…
Here in the bluegrass state, our highest profile race is for US Senator. Rand Paul is MIA, unless he’s advertising on right-wing media, which I don’t listen to. Charles Booker, on the other hand, is everywhere, earning free media. Rand has plenty of money in his own account, why he’s not spending it is another question. I think he thinks he can win on the cheap, given the state’s recent (last 10 or so years) tendencies to vote R. Gun violence, the Roe decision and the opioid crisis (which is still big here) are causing lots of voters to assess who best represents their concerns. The RNC would never spend any money here, if they’re losing here, they’re losing everywhere.
Abbott in Texas has a huge stack of cash. He just made a 20 million ad buy. Beto is running on gotv door knocking. Abbott is taking it seriously. He is up less than six points. Anyway I don’t see many ads or signs for anyone.
Murf, I’m in Alabama and our primary was at the end of May and the run-offs were less than three weeks ago. I didn’t think I was going to get through the primaries alive simply because the GOPers were pretty much running their campaign crap non-stop since last October. Thankfully, the ads haven’t inundated TV yet and it’s kind of hard to get a feel from the billboards and road signs because some of the primary losers still haven’t removed their signs.
Frankly, if I don’t see an ad from anyone until after Labor Day, I will be ecstatic.
I really wish we could go to a system like they have in the UK or France where the whole election cycle runs less than 2 months. I know there are substantial differences in how the systems work in those countries compared to the US but there is NO reason why we need primaries so far out from the general election. In Alabama, for instance, the state went from a “You win the Democratic primary and you’re elected to that office” to a “You win the Republican primary and you’re elected to that office” state so–barring any real earth-shattering upsets–when you win the primary/run-off in June, you have to wait basically 6 or 7 months before actually taking the office. And in Presidential election years, we’ve had cases here where the Presidential preference primary would be held in March and then the various state races (even US Senate and House races) wouldn’t have their primaries until May or June.
Maybe the Repub-Fascists have a door to door GOTV strategy. Dollar for dollar that is far more effective than ads.
In Toledo, Ohio the TV ads are mostly for Tim Ryan our Senate candidate and Marci Kaptur on her accomplishments. I’ve seen a couple of JD Vance ads. Marci Kaptur’s opponent JR Majewski is doing Internet ads and Twitter.