The spin cycle has started. Badland Blue has a prepared list of excuses.
Badlands Blue has turned the campaign machine to spin cycle in an attempt to deflect the criticism flying at Tim Johnson and his campaign. Too bad that not debating is going to be an impossible stain to remove:
Among the other silliness you’re likely to hear from the right-wing blogosphere in coming days is that Tim Johnson’s decision not to engage in political debates this cycle is “unprecedented.” As usual, they’re wrong. In actuality, there is a longstanding tradition of incumbent Senators on both sides of the aisle deciding not to participate in debates against lesser known - in this case, almost completely unknown - challengers. In fact, since 1994, over 10% of United States Senate races have not seen a debate between the candidates.
And you can find the list that the Johnson campaign handed to Virginal Lowell attached to the rest of the article here.
The problem with the list of examples? Not one of them is in South Dakota.
Not one.
The excuse might hold water in Massachusets, or one of the other states where Virginia Lowell is used to plying his trade
But not here.
No matter how many times they’re going to wash, go into the spin cycle, and repeat, it’s just too bad of a stain to ever come out.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
As a Kansas resident whose Senator (Brownback) did skip debates in 2004, I find the faux outrage by the SD Right a bit absurd.
The bottom line is that Dykestra has failed to mount a strong enough campaigner to warrant the same stage. All the talk about Johnson needing to be re-interviewed fails when the other job applicant doesn’t even belong in the room.
Between being your actual Senator, pretty successfully even post-illness, and working on getting in top physical shape, Johnson has better things to do than debate Dykestra.
Also, I don’t think the logic holds on SD not being among the examples Lowell cites. The point is that nationwide strong incumbents with weak opponents occaisionally decline debates. Not since Daschle in 1998 has a SD senator found himself in this position and, Lord knows, Daschle wouldn’t have missed an opportunity to run his mouth.
Makes you wonder what Steve Kirby is thinking. “If I only would have stayed in the race…”
If your not the lead dog the view never changes.
But the issue now is can he speak effectively. He’s not the same he was when he was last elected. But on top of that he hadn’t had good policies to start with.
Sounds like things are different in Kansas!
Are any of Johnson’s U.S. Senate colleagues claiming he cannot speak/communicate/do his job effectively? Probably no Democrat would say so, but are there even Republicans willing to say that?
If not, it sounds like just SD GOP is questioning his ability to perform. This would be the only real line of attack when you don’t have a very good candidate on your own side.
And that’s what it all comes down to…getting the approval of South Dakotans. Don’t the constituents of Kansas have to vote for their Representatives??
Johnson is making Dykstra available for every Media outlet to give him free press. I don’t think his seclusion will profit him. Maybe, he’s just going to pretend to run and then come away with a huge warchest.
plainsguy, come on, can you look at yourself in the mirror and say Tim can do the basics of the job, he can communicate.
His ads make me cringe for him. I think this is a basic case of abuse, let the guy retire with dignity.
Who reads Badlands Blue anyway? I’ve been there to visit, and there is hardly any discussion on the boards there. Has been a buzz of conservative posts though.
Johnson’s just a big bag of money! Waiting to be spent.