I’ve lived in GA-06 since the days of Newt Gingrich. I gave money to Jon Ossoff and of course voted for him and told everyone I know to vote for him. A good friend of mine, Steve Sinton, ran against Tom Price over 10 years ago and I was very active in his campaign. He didn’t even come close. That’s how RED this district is.
So, yes, I will weigh in on the post mortems.
Country Club Republicans have an uncanny ability to distance themselves from the shitstorm that is Trump. They don’t watch the news, they watch the golf tournaments and go to their kids’ soccer games. They don’t pay attention to the nuances of healthcare policy or immigration reform or foreign affairs. They hear tax cuts and that bonds them automatically to the Republican party, and by interrelationship, they are irretrievably bonded to any and all Republican candidates, no matter their flaws. GA-06 is Country Club Republicans.
We were inundated with Ossoff and Handel mailings. I probably got at least one a day. Mainly from Ossoff because I think the Handel people figured out my political leanings. But I heard from a lot of people that they were tired of the daily oversized 4-color mailings that stuffed their mailboxes. Aren’t there computers that tell them that I am a Democrat and gave them money and declared to them over the phone and in person that I was a solid Ossoff voter? So take me off the mailing list from Hell. Ossoff mail automatically went into the trash. No offense, but it was overkill. I guess they had to do something (anything) with all that cash. Even if it ended up in the trash.
And then there were the canvassers. I talked personally to 1, and at least 2 more came to my door and left material on my door that told all the thieves out there that I wasn’t home. When the first canvasser came to the door, I thanked her and hugged her and told her unconditionally that I was a solid supporter. Why wasn’t I taken off a list so that future canvassers could concentrate on undecided voters and not waste their time with me?
I was also inundated with Ossoff phone calls. Thanks a bunch for calling, but enough already. And calls from unidentified numbers from all over the country went unanswered because I don’t answer any unidentified numbers at all. Same for many people. Again, overkill.
evcoren has an excellent Diary on the E-Mail overkill in the campaign HERE.
Then there were the TV ads. They reran the same ole ads time and time again. Nothing about any of Ossoff’s ads was remarkable. They were all bland, corporate, smarmy nonsense that didn’t appeal to anything visceral that would move the vote toward Ossoff. I’m sure his corporate Dem handlers thought they were swell, but I thought they were a waste of money. That’s why I never gave him any more money in the waning weeks of the campaign. Newly minted candidate Randy Bryce who is running against Paul Ryan has a much more compelling ad here:
Paul Ryan's 2018 Opponent is out with a Must See Video that has Wisconsin and DC Buzzing.
So, Ossoff didn’t live in the District. Neither do 21 current House members. This was not featured by the Ossoff campaign, and Handel got the upper edge even though Handel is the carpetbagger from DC. Missed opportunity.
And then there’s the Komen fiasco. Handel was the evil player in this incident, but never paid the price. Just 5 years later, she’s a Congresswoman. The Ossoff campaign failed to remind the voters about Handel’s role in this mess at every opportunity. There was one ad from a lovely OB-GYN that alluded to it in a polite sort of way. And there was a polite ad featuring a few women. But, it wasn’t hammered home in a visceral sort of way that would move the votes of breast cancer survivors and their families.
My Facebook page yesterday was innundated with people from both parties gleefull that the ads, the mailings, the calls, the E-Mails, and the canvassers would stop. Gleeful. Mind you, I was gleeful too.
Finally, the Dems here in GA (as elsewhere throughout the country), decided to play to the middle instead of propping up their base and shouting progressive values to the rooftops. They should have tethered Handel to that disaster that is Donald Trump. They should have hammered her on all her faults. Shoulda. Coulda. Woulda. They should have shouted progressive values and given people a reason to vote for Ossoff. They punted. They should have won.
And how about all that $23 million or so? Archie Parnell in South Carolina (who lost by only 2,836 votes) proved that with a little bit of that mailing, E-Mailing, canvassing, Ad buy, calling money, he just might have won on his more progressive platform. I’m tired of Dems running away from real Progressive messages when it’s clear that their old tired plan of playing to the middle is proving that they are insane.
GA Dems in spite of all that cash blew it.
The Ossoff campaign spent appx. $23,000,000.
Ossoff got 121,635 votes.
It cost them $189.09 per vote to lose. Not a winning strategery.