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Direct mail sneak attacks, redux

Ben Chandler (D) defeated Alice Fogely Kerr (R) in the special election for Kentucky's 6th district, with much heavier than expected turnout. Both parties spent heavily on this election, with several House Democrats loaning money to the Chandler campaign, and the DCCC going all out to promote the election. But the cutest trick is probably the direct mail attack. While fundraising over direct mail doesn't appear to work as well for the Dems as it does for the GOP, the message to 'send President Bush a wake-up call' seems to have done the trick. Direct mail, while annoying, doesn't garner the media coverage that television ads do. As a consequence the impact of "negative campaigning" isn't as large as a huge TV buy, but it means the press is less likely to pick up on the attack and call it "dirty politics".

Republicans are already downplaying the impact of Chandler's victory. To be fair, Chandler had good name recognition, as the grandson of former governor and inneffective baseball commissioner "Happy" Chandler (is it me or does that name sound like something out of Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?) and 12 year veteran of local politics, including an unsuccessful run for governor. The NRCC claims they'll have better luck in South Dakota, but the only poll on this election suggests that Herseth is doing quite well. Of course, Herseth is a third generation politician as well, so I'm sure if she wins in June we will hear that she had name recongition advantage there, and we really need to wait until November to find out what people really think.

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Last updated by Nicholas Beaudrot on 11:29 13 February 2005