« Hynes ad: Harold Washington fired Quinn | Senate Primaries Not Close » |
Democrats Thu Jan 21 2010
So you are Pat Quinn, what do you do now?
First thing accept the fact that the gloves are totally and completely off now and you can't put them back on. It has gone in the words of CBS 2, nuclear.
The Washington ad is huge for Hynes, he has gotten free media off of the ad. Any rational ad that gets free media play is something you have to reply to and address.
Remember one of the lessons from the Kerry campaign, you can't let this stuff go. You have to hit back and hit back hard. Yes, it's the primary and you are all supposed to be loving Democrats and negative campaigning is bad, yadda, yadda, yadda...
Remember, you have to win the primary to make it to the general and at this point your only focus needs to be on winning the primary, it's a long time between Feb and November, wounds will heal, losing the primary lasts forever.
So time to start making some TV ads.
Start to Counter the ad
Get the former Washington administration official that CBS 2 (WBBM) had on at 10 who said that Mayor Washington would be supporting Quinn in this race. Get her in front of a camera now.
Also have her do radio ads, have Pat explain how he stood with Washington when others wouldn't (like Hynes' dad, yes you need to get this ugly now). You need to get this on heavy rotation on Urban Radio along with the Jesse White endorsement (ideally get Jesse White to do them).
Go on the attack (you need to get him reacting now)
Dan Hynes, son of political privilege. Time to drag his dad into this. How is dad ran against Washington as a third party candidate, how he got to where he is because of who his dad is. About how unfair that seems to be.
Burr Oak
The first spot is a good start, take it to the next level. Try and find someone who filed a complaint with Hynes' office and use them. The still images were a good start. Now get regular people who are impacted. Directly looking into the cameras.
The Employee who did the computer stuff.
Impacts on companies about his actions. Point out his union connection and how that union endorsed Hynes and how the guy still has a job.
Between now and election day over half your media spend has to be attacking Hynes. You have to kill the momentum from this. Period. If not you get to enjoy several months as a lame duck.