“When the Going Gets Tough…..The Tough Go Negative?”

Jody Wagner continues to wage her negative campaign against the Lt. Gov. Bolling in the hopes that voters will suddenly “come to their senses” and run to her side. Unfortunately, Wagner has not ran a campaign that messages effectively, that highlights who she is and builds name recognition or that can compete with the four years of success and popularity Bolling has had.

This campaign ad is a problem. It comes across as childish, more designed to make you laugh than make you think. The moment you see the cigar in his hand, any educated person starts laughing at the “Boss Tweed” reference and dismisses it as a political joke. It also attempts to make Bolling look bad because of his stance on healthcare, a national issue that is very divisive and complicated.

Can we hear a big “hooray” for failed negative ads? There’s an effective and ineffective method of going negative, and unfortunately, “ineffective” has been the buzz word and message of the Wagner campaign.