Chris Lien and the competition for earned media
Dave Kranz has an article this AM at argusleader.com on how the top ticket races are sucking the oxygen out of the room, leaving precious little media time for the congressional race for Chris Lien:
He might be from West River, but Joyce Bertness of Valley Springs says Lien connects well with people in this community.
“I like the things he stands for. He is pro-life. That’s not the only issue of his that I like, but it is a big part of it,” she said. “He has good ideas on energy, and he believes we should take a look at where government spends our money.”
Bertness says one thing that adds to the difficulty is the media.
“I haven’t seen or heard much about him in the media. You hear about Tim Johnson and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, but you don’t hear about him,” she said. “People should get to know Chris.”
And she’s right- concerned voters should not simply depend on what they’re fed from the Mainstream Media. They should take the time to get to know Chris, who is by far the best candidate Republicans have fielded for Congress since the days of John Thune.
Find out about Chris, and send a letter to the editor about your experience.
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
Candidates who want exposure don’t have to work very hard.
All they have to do is call the local paper, radio/tv station and most will be happy to talk to them.
The Lien campaign, so far, hasn’t appeared to be very aggresive in that approach. Its also easy to get an email list of media outlets in the state, and send our schedules for instance. Again, the Lien campaign has not been doing that.
Who came up with the idea that it is ok to lose an election because it builds name ID. All it does is build name ID that you are a loser. Why not try to win?
Chris has been EVERYWHERE! Dakota Fest, State fair, Sioux Empire Fair, Dakota Bowl, Tea Pot days, Turner Co. fair.
I have heard him speak several times and seen him over a dozen times at different events across the state–but there just isn’t much news coverage.
Of course Johnson has gotten all kinds of press too–esp in the Argus–and Dykstra is hardly mentioned—
Oh YES it is the liberal biased media in action!
Um, Chris is running against Herseth-Sandlin, not Johnson. and while we are on the topic, there was a full-page story on Dykstra in the Gargoyle Leader yesterday.
I don’t think he does connect well. His speeches are getting better but there is no meat to them. Ya, we need to drill here drill now and ya, we need to clean up Washington but that doesn’t inspire. The people of SD look at bringing back pork as an asset so going on and on about cutting all the earmarks isn’t going to get you any traction.
He seems nice and could be smart but there is something about him that is too serious. He needs to lighten up and act like he is running to be your friend. Spend more time talking to people about their lives and less about how you are going to change things in Washington. Stephanie got elected because she was happy and had a story to tell. South Dakotans want optimism not pessimism. I have heard his speeches and I will vote for him but I have always walked away and thought, just another ho-hum uninspiring speech that was taken out of the RNC “How to Run for Congress for Dummies” handbook.
hmmm 4:05, you want inspiring speeches? Just flick on any news source and get your daily obama fill. Quit ragging on candidates who actually know what they’r talking about and are known for having MEATY SPEECHES. and we can all assume obama-inpsiron won’t get ragged on, there’s no meat to chew.
I don’t think anyone is fooled by Lien’s campaign. He is only running against Stephanie to get his name out there and to run again in 2010 for another higher office.