The Same Old Song and Dance

One of the most important traits of any political campaign should be the ability to change strategies when necessary. If one campaign strategy fails to produce the results the candidate needs, the campaign must be able to adapt and switch to a strategy that does work. If focusing on one issue and emphasizing the candidate’s views regarding that issue fails to energize the electorate, logic would dictate that the campaign should move on to another issue, another set of views to emphasize.

Of course, in order to do this effectively, the campaign must have a candidate with competent views on a number of issues. A campaign can not change their strategy and emphasize a different point if the candidate is only running on one issue, or can only talk about one or two points. This seems to be the problem facing Jody Wagner and her campaign staff.

Polls released earlier this week show Bill Bolling ahead of Wagner 50% to 38%. Obviously, either Bolling is doing something right, or Wagner is doing something wrong. However, instead of changing tactics, Wagner has continued to emphasize Bolling’s lack-luster attendance record for meetings of the several boards and counsels on which Bolling serves. Wagner claims that Bolling has personally attended only 4 out of the 68 board meetings he was supposed to attend over the last four years. What Wagner tends to ignore is the fact that, for every one of those 68 meetings, Bolling was either in attendance or sent a staff member to take notes and then brief him later.

Regardless of how much truth there is in Wagner’s claims, she seems determined to continue with a campaign strategy that clearly does not work. Virginians do not care about whether Bolling himself attended the 17 board meetings he had per year, or if he sent staff members to attend. They don’t care about attacks based on insignificant issues and manipulated statistics. Virginians want a candidate that can talk about the issues and offer competent and thoughtful solutions to the problems the state faces. They want a positive leader, not a negative one. Simply put, Virginians want Bill Bolling, not Jody Wagner.

Jody Wagner attacks Fall Flat

Jodi Wagner has ramped up her negative attacks on the Bill Bolling campaign. Her ads have started to focus more on her campaign's misperceptions on Bill Bolling; her accusations have started to pile up culminating with her accusations that his presence has been almost non-existent during his last term and his opposition to any bi-partisan work.

"Since taking office, Bolling has had an open invitation to the meetings of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Revenue Estimates, on which sit appropriate Cabinet Secretaries, the House and Senate Leadership, and Virginia’s business leaders. The Committee plays a critical role in the bi-partisan process of revenue forecasting. Each year, Lt. Governor Bolling has been invited. Each year, he’s failed to show up-including the latest meeting, held yesterday in Richmond. So, if Bill Bolling is so concerned about the state’s revenue forecasts, why hasn’t he bothered to actually take part in the process?" (A statement released in a press release by the Wagner campaign)

And while this sounds pretty bad, the whole issue was blown out of proportion and the information was not provided in the appropriate context. The meetings occurred on a yearly basis and were to discuss public opinion in regards to what had happened since the last meeting. They were short and disorganized with no published information.

Find out more in this article.