Greg Davis Says Running Against Obama Won't Work

As we learned in the LA-06 and the MS-01 special elections, the strategy of tying local candidates to Barack Obama is a poor plan of action. Republican Woody Jenkins was bested by Democrat Don Cazayoux in the ruby red Sixth Congressional District of Louisiana. Travis Childers soundly defeated Republican Greg Davis in the north Mississippi special election.

In both elections the NRCC spent heavily on negative ads tying the local Democrats to Barack Obama, Jeremiah Wrpght and national Dems. This strategy not only did not work, but backfired completely. The Black voter turnout increased substantially in the special election runoffs, directly after the negative Obama ads were run. Remember that Obama was not on the ticket on the days these special elections were held. These Black voters came out to support Cazayoux and Childers.

I believe the Republicans used MS-01 and LA-06 as test labs for negative advertising against Obama and the Democratic brand. They fired all of their guns, and made note of which ones registered and which ones fired blanks. What we learned in north Mississippi is that Obama might not be so unpopular after all. We also learned that voters are smart enough to realize when their legs are being pulled. The NRCC tried to link Travis Childers to well known politicians in California, Massachusetts, and Illinois, thankfully to no avail.

Greg Davis is here to tell you that strategy will not work.

"We're going to spend more time going out there and meeting with voters and letting them know who I am, and less on the contrast ads which just didn't work," Davis says, referring to ads that tried to link Childers to presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

Both Davis and the Mississippi GOP say they realize the negative ads linking Childers to Obama and the controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright didn't do the trick for conservative voters in northern Mississippi.

"The campaign this time around has to be about what Davis is-not what Childers isn't," says Cory Adair, a spokesman for the Mississippi Republican Party. "They completely hijacked the Republican platform," he says, referring to Childers' successful marketing of himself as a conservative during the special election on such issues as the second amendment, abortion, and immigration.

I love the last part of that quote. "They hijacked our brand", cries the GOP. Too bad the Davis campaign was counting on these issues to win. I never even heard a single economic proposa,l or even policy proposal for that matter, in any of Greg Davis's advertising. What solutions did he offer the working people of north Mississippi? Travis Childers had answers, Greg Davis did not.

Davis was counting on painting Childers as some pinko who was gonna take your guns, have gays on every corner, and make abortion commonplace. Once this became an election on REAL issues Greg Davis did not have a chance. To seal the deal, the once astute Republican brain trust decided to motivate the Black vote by running a smear campaign focused on Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright. Bad move, ask Greg Davis.

National Take on LA-06

Poltico had to say about the results from Louisiana's sixth congressional district.

"For the second time this cycle, Republicans were reminded that 'all politics is local,'" said Van Hollen. "House Republicans tried to nationalize this election, illegally coordinated with Freedom's Watch, used false and deceptive special interest smears, and funneled nearly a million dollars into a district that Republicans held for more than three decades. Don won by focusing on the concerns of LA-06 voters - good paying jobs, affordable health care, and better education."

Let's help this story repeat again for north Mississippi.

LA-06 Election Results Thread - Updated Cazayoux WINS

I will be posting the results of the LA-06 special election tonight in this main post, we can chat in the replies. Democrat Don Cazayoux looks to make the Democrats two for two so far this special election season. Remember we won Hastert's seat in IL-14 earlier this year. Polls close at 8:00 PM CST.


LA-06 (512 of 512 precincts reporting)
Don Cazayoux (D) 49,702 49.20%
Woody Jenkins (R) 46,741 46.27%

Uh, Huh!! NO runoffs in LA!!

Cotton Mouth calls this race for Cazayoux. Now let's win MS-01!!



RESULTS: LA SoS Baton Rouge Advocate NOLA.com

LA-06: Cazayoux looks to turn red district blue

Normally it is all Mississippi politics here, but we are going to step out and talk about one in Louisiana. LA-06, an R+6.5 district, is the congressional district that contains Baton Rouge. Like MS-01, LA-06 should be a cakewalk for the Republicans. Bush carried LA-06 with 58.9% of the vote in 2004. This is the first of two big opportunities to lay claim to ruby red districts in the supposed "backyard" of the GOP, with of course MS-01 being the other.

Incumbent Richard Baker took a lucrative position with a hedge fun, hence we are having a special election.

Just like MS-01 the Democrat challenger is doing very well. State Rep. Don Cazayoux is a ahead of Republican Woody Jenkins by 9 points according to a new poll just released by SurveyUSA.

LA-06
Cazayoux (D) 50%
Jenkins (R) 41%

Favorability Ratings
Cazayoux +15
Jenkins -13

The special election is in two days, this Saturday, May 3.

Swing State Project Coverage of LA-06

Today's NRCC: Crooked And They Just Don't Care, Sloppy Too

You may have read about how their treasurer was stealing from them.

Or perhaps you read about how they inflated their cash on hand and then had to backtrack.

Well now there is pretty solid information that they're breaking clear, long established campaign finance law:

The DCCC filed a complaint today with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against Freedom's Watch and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). Freedom's Watch, a shadowy outside group, and the NRCC illegally coordinated their political attack ads against Democratic candidate Don Cazayoux (LA-06).

The Freedom's Watch and the NRCC's television ads are stunningly similar. A little digging revealed why – electronic identifiers show that the NRCC wrote the Freedom's Watch ad.

"The DCCC is filing this FEC complaint to hold Freedom's Watch and the NRCC accountable for their illegal coordination that is being used to mislead voters about Democratic candidates' positions," said Brian Wolff, Executive Director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "Tom Cole may have gotten his wish when Freedom's Watch came to the NRCC's rescue, but breaking the law will be the NRCC's worst nightmare. Freedom's Watch own Word document clearly shows that the script for their ad came from the NRCC – that's clearly illegal."

Freedom's Watch is operating as the cash-strapped NRCC's de facto independent expenditure campaign:

• The script that Freedom's Watch provided television stations running their ads included electronic identifiers indicating that the NRCC created the Word document.
• The NRCC's ad buy in LA-06 ended the day the nearly identical Freedom's Watch ad began airing. The NRCC ad ran from 4/10/08 through 4/16/08. The Freedom's Watch ad began airing as the NRCC went dark – 4/16/08 and is scheduled to run through the special election on 5/03/08.
• The message, images, and citations in both the Freedom's Watch ad and NRCC ad are nearly identical. See for yourself – click here to see images of the ads side by side.
  
• Freedom's Watch is being run by Carl Forti, a longtime NRCC veteran who was responsible for the NRCC's independent expenditure campaigns and communications for nearly a decade. [Washington Post, 3/30/08] This is the same Forti who's responsible for attacks that led Republican Members and Republican candidates to call the NRCC "a rogue attack shop," responsible for "smears," "over-the-top accusations," "demonstrably false" and "misleading" attacks and "political mudslinging." [Boston Globe, 3/04/07]
  
• For the first time in memory, NRCC Chairman Tom Cole welcomed the participation of Freedom's Watch and other outside groups like it in House campaigns, saying "We hope we see them in political races all across the board." [Washington Post, 3/30/08]
  

Tom Cole: at long last have you left no sense of decency?

(The text of the complaint can be found in the comments)

I just donated $10 dollars to Rep. Don Cazayoux And You Should Too

If you want Democrats to have a majority large enough to pass universal healthcare it's going to take a few more.

I think we'll have a Democratic president (whether it is Madam or Mister President) and a strong majority in the senate with 3 to 6 pickups.

Rep. Don Cazayoux is running in the 6th Congressional District of Louisiana which includes Baton Rouge.

A couple of his ads:



This seat has been historically very Republican, but Cazayoux, like our own Rep. Gene Taylor, fits his District and will vote with Democrats the vast majority of the time. The Cook Political Report calls it a TOSS-UP. We can win this race, but he's going to need help.

If you can volunteer CLICK HERE or if like me you'd like to make a small donation CLICK HERE. Both are excellent choices.

And yes, for the record, I do like and respect Gene Taylor even if I disagree with him on some major issues.