Heidi Heitkamp Releases Radio Ad Featuring Bill Clinton
Even as the Heitkamp campaign fights for distance from our current Democrat President – the kerfuffle over yard signs tying the two together led Heitkamp’s brother to slander the good name of a retired law enforcement officer – she’s called in a former Democrat President to endorse her campaign.
Here’s Bill Clinton, sounded like he recorded the ad in an airport bathroom:
No doubt Heitkamp is hoping a little star power will close the widening polling gap that’s opened between herself and Republican Rick Berg. And certainly Clinton has the cachet of a much more moderate, far less left-wing Democrat party. This race, for Heitkamp, has always been about making North Dakotans forget what an outspoken supporter of Barack Obama she was. Hearkening back to a less polarizing president might help.
It just makes me think of the state convention flopped that kicked off the general election campaign for Heitkamp. This ad was probably recorded then (the picture in the video was clearly taken that day), and remember that was a convention that was a big failure for Democrats. They fell thousands short of what they were expecting for attendees the day Clinton addressed that convention. It was a debacle. SAB readers will remember this picture:
This is a little late in the game. The polls have solidified. There aren’t a lot of undecideds left, and tens of thousands of North Dakotans have already cast ballots early and through absentee forms.
Too little too late, I think.
Update: This, from Twitter, is a good point. Early in her campaign Heitkamp pushed the “war on women” angle hard. That’s faded some down the stretch, no doubt because it doesn’t get a lot of traction here in North Dakota, but even so:
Tags: bill clinton, election 2012, Heidi Heitkamp, North Dakota News@heidi4nd has a radio ad w/ a man, notorious for having an affair, in the Oval Office. Not sure I’d want that endorsement #classy #NDSEN
— Nicole Bredahl (@NicoleBredahl) October 27, 2012
