Thursday, June 22nd, 2006...11:10 am
Innuendo and Out the Other
Phx Kid, a huge fan of my blog…I’ll convert the guy yet, has taken issue with my characterizing Russ Dove as a Randy Graf ally. In a response to one of my previous posts, he said:
Tedski do you have any proof that Dove is working for a/the Republican(s)? Please provide it. It’s kind of like saying Gabrielle Giffords is a lesbian because she served in the Legislature with Kyrsten Sinema. Maybe we should all stay away from innuendo and guilt by association unless we can produce evidence.
For one thing, Sinema, far as I know, isn’t lesbian but bisexual. And, you are right, thinking that Giffords is lesbian because she worked in a building near where Sinema works would be silly. Although, your positing that two attractive successful women are lesbian probably says more about your video rental habits than it does about the character or politics of Giffords and Sinema.
How’s that for innuendo?
Let’s take the metaphor a bit further though. If I saw a woman holding hands with a woman I knew to be lesbian, I think I could assume that they are going out, right? This wouldn’t be “guilt by association,” since what is being assumed is the association. Back to the original question, Russ Dove was a “border correspondent” on Steve Aiken’s radio show. As we know, Aiken was up until last Friday Graf’s campaign manager. Dove has been with Graf at numerous public appearances, so much so that local political wags have refered to Dove as Graf’s “security.”
Heck, this would be the equivalent of seeing two women kissing in front of The Biz and assuming that they are lesbian.
Why the concern about people thinking Dove and Graf are connected? Does it sully the reputation of Dove that he hangs with a character like Graf?
10 Comments
June 22nd, 2006 at 1:50 pm
Tedski, I am a big fan of your blog but I am not sure about the conversion thing.
I am sorry that I mischaracterized Sinema as a lesbian instead of a bisexual. Right-wingers like me are still trying to figure out the whole GLBT thing.
I see the link between Dove and Aiken. Since Aiken and Graf have severed ties a post at this time appears outdated. Your best evidence seems to be that Dove attended many Graf events. Maybe I should attend several of your events. Would that mean you have a far right conservative on your staff or inside your campaign?
The video of Giffords and Sinema that you have sounds really interesting but I’m lucky if the little one lets me turn off Thomas Train and Winnie the Pooh long enough to watch Arizona Illustrated on Friday night.
June 22nd, 2006 at 4:15 pm
May I be the first to post that Weiss just release her latest poll today. She is still 10 points ahead of Giffords.
More telling, is a little bird whispering in my ear tells me the results were taken from LD28. Yes, Giffords own district.
If they don’t know her, who does?
June 22nd, 2006 at 4:26 pm
Nah, I think the Giffords camp is thrilled if a poll right now, before any serious money is spent, only shows Weiss is ahead by 10 points. Especially since that’s on the edge of within the margin of error.
According to Patty’s own site, that’s across CD 8, not limited to any one district.
If Patty were _truly_ thrilled with it, she would have had a press conference and promoted it with a lot of fanfare. She knows it’s mediocre news, at best, for her.
June 22nd, 2006 at 6:03 pm
sirocco, right back at you.
As I posted on TDP, I don’t think it is bad news or she would not have released it at all and so quickly. The campaign must see it as good news.
I do agree with some of what you said, and will get into my analysis later on that.
June 22nd, 2006 at 6:08 pm
On the press release, since the 3 local newspapers have attacked anything she has put out in the past while actively promoting Giffords, I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t send out a press release.
More than likely the did sent one out. The papers are usually a few days behind in reporting. I can predict already how the papers will spin it. Similar to what they did with her early signatures while make a big production out of Giffords’ numbers without mentioning she was getting them at least 2 months longer. Can you say bias?
My early analysis is it could be good news for Weiss or good news for Giffords depending on several factors.
My gut reaction? It meaningless at this point but I have to stir up the pot a bit here.
June 22nd, 2006 at 6:20 pm
Wow! Gabrielle behind by 10 points to a woman who has been a fixture of Tucson television for three decades! And this is before Giffords campaign has even started her paid communications that her huge warchest is sure to finance.
I clicked on the link on Patty’s web site and I was amazed at the lack of information they have on it. It seems that if the information were good, they’d release a bunch more data about it. I have to assume that the underlying data isn’t so sweet for them.
But the information that is on the release seems to be rather telling: Weiss is recognized by 75% in her poll, but just 32% will vote for her.
Wow! If my math is correct that means that the MAJORITY of people who have heard of Patty will NOT vote for her.
Furthermore, the poll says that there is a 35% name recognition advantage. Shouldn’t this translate into a lead of more than 10 points? Seems like her support is built on a swampy foundation.
Also, I just checked out Giffords’ web site. It looks like she just won the endorsement of another standard-bearer of progressive values — the League of Conservation Voters. While Weiss is spouting polls, Giffords continues to bring more Democrats into her coalition.
She continues to stockpile a massive warchest of funds that she seems to barely even have touched. Once she starts her campaign commercials (which Patty won’t be able to afford, given that she probably just wasted 25 grand on this poll, which probably decreased her total cash on hand by half), her name recognition is sure to skyrocket.
I guess that’s the reason why the campaign decided not to even issue a press release touting it. Because the underlying numbers look very bad for the Weiss campaign.
June 22nd, 2006 at 8:54 pm
Fedup,
I disagree … the news she was doing a poll was out there, so she pretty much had to post it as long as the results were not truly dreadful.
The results certainly aren’t great for her, but if she puts a positive spin on it they are ok enough she can tlak about it and smile. Like I said though, she’s not thrilled … or, at least, she shouldn’t be.
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:12 pm
Sirocco,
The results aren’t great? She’s just a few points down from a consistent 30 year veteran of nightly TV! Gabby’s reputation is so great that 30 years of name recognition can barely overcome it even before she starts running television ads and sending mail out. That’s a great result.
and Fed Up,
Celinda Lake is an accomplished pollster. She would never poll for a Congressional candidate and only call one small LD in the middle of it. That “little bird” whispering in your ear has no idea what they’re talking about.
June 23rd, 2006 at 4:18 am
Union guy,
The results aren’t great for Patty, IMO. I have already said I think the Giffords campaign is thrilled.
June 23rd, 2006 at 10:07 am
Sirocco,
I sincerely apologize. I misunderstood your post.
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