Assigning Operatives To Film Rick Berg May Have Been The Biggest Mistake Of Pomeroy’s Campaign
I’m loathe to give Earl Pomeroy advice, because there’s nothing I’d like more than to see him put out to pasture this election season, but if he were smart he’d recall the political operatives he has following Rep. Rick Berg around with video cameras. Because the voters aren’t reacting well, and Berg is capitalizing on it politically.
Today I spent some time at the Minot Republican Victory Office where Rick Berg stopped by on his tour across the state. Berg was a little bit late getting to the office, so I had plenty of time to chat with some of the other people there who read the blog and listen to the radio shows. A lot of them were asking about Pomeroy having sent out trackers to follow Berg around, and I said it was true. Readers/listeners from some of Berg’s other events had been emailing saying that they saw the trackers and this morning Berg himself confirmed to me on the radio that he was being followed.
They were amazed. Even more so when Berg himself showed up at the office with Pomeroy’s operative in tow. Here are a couple of shots of said operative whose name, I believe, was Brendan:
For what it’s worth, Berg was extremely gracious with the kid even offering him some of the food that was laid out for volunteers (Brendan turned it down). But during his address, Berg also encouraged attendees to talk into Pomeroy’s camera and communicate to the incumbent some of their concerns. It was a brilliant move that left Pomeroy and his operative looking a little foolish.
Now, these sort of trackers are hardly new to politics. We all remember how Senator George Allen’s promising political career was derailed when he said the word “macaca” at one of these operatives. But while they may be standard operative procedure in politics in many parts of the country, it’s a fairly new concept here in North Dakota.
At least, the operatives being this brazen about their presence is a new concept, and I don’t think North Dakota voters are going to take kindly to it.
Nor, I think, does it reflect well on Pomeroy. Already he’s flooding the state’s airwaves with a negative ad campaign targeting Berg. Already he’s been caught pulling petty antics such as trying to get a booth put up by the NDSU College Republicans shut down. Now he’s got his operatives out following his opponent around?
I think it comes off as…desperate. And the attack ads and attack on the College Republicans seem more than a little shrill.
Earl Pomeroy is a nine-term incumbent, and even given the fact that he’s trailed in every single public poll done in the state this election cycle, you’d expect a bit more competence and confidence from his campaign.
Tags: ealrl pomeroy, North Dakota News, Rick Berg
