Thoughts on Conway's "Aqua Buddha" Strategy
I just posted a comment over at Barefoot and Progressive about the Conway strategy of going after Paul on the Aqua Buddha story. I thought I'd jump on here and expand it a little.
If I were Conway, I'd drop the AB strategy and go after current issues. The AB story is a little convoluted, and takes too long to explain to someone who hasn't heard it. Add to that the fact that it's from college, and it becomes a great thing to joke about, but not a good campaign issue. Who among us didn't do really stupid things in college?
Most voters are going to give a college-age story a pass. They are much less likely to give the $2,000 Medicate deductible a pass. Nor are they likely to look kindly on someone who is board-certified by a board they themselves created.
I think there are many, many current stories and positions that Conway could run with. He ought to let ol' Aqua die a watery grave.
And one other thing -- do any of you see a theme in the Conway campaign, either on the pro-Jack side or the anti-Paul side? Is it "Rand Paul is wrong" or "Rand Paul is crazy" or "Rand Paul can't be trusted" or "Rand Paul isn't sure WHAT he believes"? I think I see a little "Jack Conway GETS Kentucky" on the pro-Jack side, but I'm not sure.
Conway has pivoted to the Aqua story. He needs to pivot back and go for the "trust" factor, in my opinion.
Thoughts?
Monday, October 18, 2010 at 8:33PM
Reader Comments (3)
You may be completely right, but also consider that Conway's pivot has made Rand Paul very angry and thrown him off his game, even to the point of refusing to do another debate. Some would say this plays into Conway's hands, and gives Conway's endorsers a big argument that Paul is a political coward.
Possibly, Steve, possibly. It just seems to me that at this point Conway has two voter segments he should try to reach:
-- Democrats waking up to the possibility of a Senator Paul, and thus coming home
-- Independents trying to make up their minds. Note that most independents are so because they care about the issues.
I don't think the AB strategy hits either of these groups particularly well.
Now that he's got Paul on his heels, I'd like to see him pivot again to the "board certified" crock, and then hammer the issues as well.
Thanks for dropping by. Time will tell. Till then, it's GOTV!
Wow. Good to hear I'm not the only one that thought AB was the wrong way to go. Guess we'll all find out soon enough.