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Hodes, take on Ayotte and make your case to the voters with passion

by: susaninrindge

Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 18:36:11 PM EDT


I've been concerned for a while now that Paul Hodes is missing the boat in his campaigning/ advertising.  A little while back he was just a few points behind Ayotte and, according to a poll I just saw reported on MUR, he has slipped behind much more.  

The first TV ad Hodes ran was the one where he was speaking over a hot dog eating contest, comparing DC with the gluttony going on behind him.It was hard to hear him and it was silly. I thought then he should ditch the cute and go for a serious, direct talk with the voters. These are serious times, frightening times, that require serious, direct communication. Instead, he has opted for more cute, ducking his vote for the stimulus and saying he's the fiscal conservative.  This does not do the voters justice.

Hodes needs to defend his positions and votes directly and with conviction. He needs to talk about special interests and the fact that Ayotte is in lock step with the party that has fought every attempt to protect the middle class. He needs to defend the health care bill in terms that people understand and not just the 2 points about pre-existing conditions and kicking people off their policies. He needs to show passion and conviction about how the Republicans have fought tooth and nail against any provisions that support patient's rights over insurance companies; have fought tooth and nail against any financial reform to hold banks and other corporations accountable and protect consumers. He needs to combat the myth of Obamacare as government run healthcare. He is letting the Repugs frame the issues and he plays defense.  

Now Ayotte is running exactly the kind of ad I was hoping Hodes would run. She speaks directly to the voters and delivers the talking points in a credible and un-scary way while walking through the New Hampshire woods. This is the way to gain credibility with voters.  

It's time for Hodes to go on offense and attack Ayotte for her lax enforcement of mortgage fraud cases that came before her and generalize that to a lack of sympathy with working families - whether it's health care coverage/insurance reform, banking regulations or other regulations. She sides with big corporations. People need to understand how her lax enforcement as AG reflects her priorities and sympathies. When she was AG, she had the chance to use her position to stand up for home-owners and did she?  NO!  

Stand up, Paul, talk to the camera and tell the voters why you will protect them from the runaway tea party train hell bent on dismantling the middle class, and worrying only about the well off. Tell the voters you are in Washington to protect them against the very powerful corporations that have demonstrated in so many ways that all they care about is their profits.  Tell the voters what will happen to the middle class if Repugs take over. Paint the picture. Take on Ayotte's positions on issues that effect our lives and our futures. If she calls it class warfare, tell her someone better fight for the middle class because if they don't it's going to disappear!

susaninrindge :: Hodes, take on Ayotte and make your case to the voters with passion
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Good Post... (4.00 / 2)
...and I agree.  I've been gently critical of the Hodes campaign for a while, because I want to see him win and he can if he shows a vision of his own.  He can't try to out-conservative Ayotte, nor does he need to run "against" Washington.

Many of the same voters who go to the polls on November 2nd will be those who had supported our candidates in 2006 and 2008.  Yes, there may be fewer of them, and there might be more Republicans voting, BUT the voters are still looking for "hope," still expecting vision, and want to know how our government can be better, do better.

Hodes has done a lot during the past four years in Washington.  Ayotte has done nothing.  It is that contrast -- and what he wants to do -- that will get Hodes elected.  It's serious business, and hot dogs won't cut it.  He needs to look into the camera and tell us how his path will differ from Ayotte's.  He needs to keep talking about New Hampshire people, and what he wants to do for us.

As you say -- "paint the picture" -- for our future.  


Also... (0.00 / 0)
Let's see some reminders that Ayotte first got picked by Craig Benson for the post she eventually quit on (just like Sarah Palin quit on her job halfway through).

IT for John Lynch '04 and NHDP '08 - I'm liking my track record so far!

Pick Up Your Fork (4.00 / 1)
As I've said elsewhere: use the Ayotte ad, tell us about her path and yours.

The "traveling the roads of NH" is good but it's too cluttered. Now make the point, strong and clear. Simple direct, and explain the choice voters face.  

No'm Sayn?


Couldn't agree more. (4.00 / 1)
And, one of Tip O'Neill's campaign principles was that you have to ASK for the vote. Just ask Martha Coakley.

Please, Congressman. Put the pedal to the metal. You need to be on everyone's radar now for all the right reasons, and your message needs to be strong, clear, and EVERYWHERE, as do your signs!

Speaking of which, I signed up for a lawn sign (and duly contributed once again) weeks ago, and still no sign of a sign...

Kelly's are still all up from the primary. Just sayin'


67 Emerald (4.00 / 1)
Mike I know there are some signs avail at 67 emerald in Keene if you want to pick one up.

Hope > Fear




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[ Parent ]
Thanks! I know I can always count on (0.00 / 0)
Cheshire County Dems!

I just wish I was seeing more enthusiastic follow-through on the ground from the campaign itself. Paul really needed to come out swinging the day after the primary, and in this case I do not mean on the guitar (or with hot dogs)...

There's way too much at stake for us to lose this now. It isn't too late yet, but time's a-wastin'!


[ Parent ]
I have been concerned (0.00 / 0)
at how little we heard from the unopposed candidate before the primary and now wondering exactly what the campaign was doing to get ready to hit the ground running.  Maybe they were somewhere else, but they weren't in my neck of the woods in NH-01.  Carol's campaign came storming out of the gate one second after she knew who her opponent would be, because that campaign had done its homework.  And she was doing her job in DC while the famed grassroots was doing theirs.
And I too dislike those ads!
I really really want Paul to win!  Kelly will be the Senator for the lobbyists in DC, and I don't think they are a state, or did I miss something?

 


Ads aside, we need to promote Hodes, and all the rest (4.00 / 2)
I, too wish the ads were different.  But we all have some power to effect change, even outside of the campaign.  

Carol Shea-Porter has always gotten this--she has always focussed on raising votes as opposed to raising money.  Annie Kuster also got this and ran a campaign aimed at the individual voter.

And that is where each of us comes in.  Talk to everyone you know.  Get them to promise to vote, and talk up what Paul has done for us so far, and what Annie wnats to do, and how necessary John Lynch is to keeping the other side at bay, and how very important it is to elect Democratic State Senators and Representatives.  (Full disclosure, I have an interest in having people promote Democratic House Reps.)

I can't talk to every voter in my district.  But I can ask the people I do meet to pass the word.  And that (to go back to The Poet) can make all the difference.  


Susan's Post (0.00 / 0)
Excellent post Susan!  I just hope that the Hodes campaign gets the message.

I didn't find the 'paths' ad effective... (0.00 / 0)
..but the newest one, which as this morning, is absolutely brutal.  The Ayotte campaign broadcast an ad criticizing the Hodes hot dog ad....and (unfortunately) I think it will prove to be of the most effective ads of the season.  Hodes has tried too much to come off like a Republican, and she slams him - effectively - for it.  She even comes off human (rather than like a robot reading a teleprompter) for the first time in her life.  Not a good omen at all....


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