That's one way to look at it
Matt's got an interesting post over at the Bull's Eye blog about some fliers handed out by the Durham Democratic party this weekend. (Full disclosure - I handed these out in my neighborhood, along with a David Harris info piece this weekend.)
Matt notes that "Stith has strong ties to the Republican Party but has not emphasized his political affiliation, for obvious reasons. He thinks his Republican status should be irrelevant in a non-partisan race."
There's two ways to read that, i think. One is that there are reasons why Stith has remained silent about his party affiliation, and discerning readers know what they are. The other is that "the obvious reason" why Stith has not played up his Republican credentials is that he thinks it "should be irrelevant in a non-partisan race." I think the latter is what Matt is saying.
But i think the former is the case. Stith's initial foray in the race played on one of the favorite hot-button issues of Republicans nationwide - illegal immigrants. That didn't pan out so well for the candidate, and he quickly switched gears to a series of personal attacks against incumbent mayor Bill Bell. But Stith's conservative agenda, his Republican credentials (he sought the Republican nomination for Lt. Governor in 2004), his ties to Art Pope's reactionary Civitas Institute are all issues in the campaign, whether Mr. Stith wants them to be or not. His tactics in this campaign, borrowed heavily from Republican strategists, are issues in the campaign. It's a bit disingenuous of him to try to claim the high road at this point in time.
Matt notes that "Stith has strong ties to the Republican Party but has not emphasized his political affiliation, for obvious reasons. He thinks his Republican status should be irrelevant in a non-partisan race."
There's two ways to read that, i think. One is that there are reasons why Stith has remained silent about his party affiliation, and discerning readers know what they are. The other is that "the obvious reason" why Stith has not played up his Republican credentials is that he thinks it "should be irrelevant in a non-partisan race." I think the latter is what Matt is saying.
But i think the former is the case. Stith's initial foray in the race played on one of the favorite hot-button issues of Republicans nationwide - illegal immigrants. That didn't pan out so well for the candidate, and he quickly switched gears to a series of personal attacks against incumbent mayor Bill Bell. But Stith's conservative agenda, his Republican credentials (he sought the Republican nomination for Lt. Governor in 2004), his ties to Art Pope's reactionary Civitas Institute are all issues in the campaign, whether Mr. Stith wants them to be or not. His tactics in this campaign, borrowed heavily from Republican strategists, are issues in the campaign. It's a bit disingenuous of him to try to claim the high road at this point in time.
Labels: Bill Bell, Durham, elections, Thomas Stith
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2 Comments:
This race is a dress rehearsal for the Repugs' '08 presidential strategy---massive spending on negative advertising. Political scientists say negative advertising works by suppressing the other side's turnout. We'll see if the 3 K early voters portend a large turnout today as Mike Ashe said in today's H-S.
If Stith loses this race, and I bet that he will, will he have the grace to slink back to the Stith-cave and never trouble the good people of Durham again?
By
Anonymous, at 5:33 AM
Stith's complaints about a dirty campaign at this point are quite rich. I handed out those flyers on my street Saturday. If Stith had really run a campaign on "the issues," as he claims, I would have felt bad about handing them out, and might have refused to help. But he started this thing off in a really ugly way, and it's coming back to bite him.
By
Unknown, at 10:57 AM
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