A Run Out The Clock Campaign
South Dakotans regardless of political ideology or affiliation rallied around Senator Tim Johnson when he suffered his brain hemorrhage in December of 2006. Everyone wished him a full recovery and only the best.
Most everyone was respectful of him; Norwegian Nice was the order of the day. His personal well being was South Dakota’s first concern. Despite literally months with little information about his health or recovery and the fact that he was in seclusion at an undisclosed secret location to effect a positive recovery Tim Johnson was given the benefit of every doubt.
When he had his homecoming last August it was a bi-partisan affair with well wishes from both Senator John Thune (via Video) and a personal appearance at the rally like homecoming (paid for by Johnson’s Senatorial campaign) by Governor Rounds.
In political circles and in the South Dakota media questions about his health and reelection were debated for those many months always giving Senator Johnson plenty of space.
No Debates in 2008
Since the announcement last week from the Johnson’s campaign that he will not participate in any debates in this year’s Senate campaign much has been written, spoken and televised already and the blogosphere has been on fire with speculation, point and counterpoint.
One very important fact must be continually considered as the campaign moves forward without debates and the opportunity to compare the candidates side by side.
The decision not to debate was solely Tim Johnsons.
Straight Talk’s 2Cents – With the election now less than 3 month’s away the Johnson campaign is showing what there campaign strategy truly is – RUN OUT THE CLOCK!
Secrecy and delay have been the hallmarks of events since Tim Johnson’s convalescence began. Besides being at a secret location (somewhat understandable) and despite probably hundreds of requests from South Dakota Mainstream Media, the Senator’s Spokesperson unequivocally stated the Senator was not doing ANY media interviews. This of course was not the truth. We later learned that Bob Woodruff of ABC News conducted several interviews over several months including camera crews with Tim Johnson.
Falsehood #2 – Throughout last winter and spring on at least two occasions either the Senator or Campaign spokesperson said Senator Johnson would debate. No time to worry now there would be plenty of time when Campaign season rolled around.
The simple fact is – starting with last year’s homecoming, Senator Johnson is tightly scripted and fettered by his handlers. Even the 19 stop campaign swing he is making is with politically friendly audiences.
South Dakota voters deserve better. We need to see and hear from an unfettered Tim Johnson. We need to take measure of him ourselves to make real person judgments if he is up to the grueling job of being our representative in the U S Senate for the next 6 years.
Both the electronic media and the pen and pencil press deserve a live press conference without conditions with Tim Johnson so he can explain (with adequate follow up questioning) why he is not debating and why South Dakotans should re elect him from a distance.
In South Dakota we are a retail political State. We want to see the candidate, look him in the eye and shake his or her hand. Not just scripted campaign events, statements from spokespersons or $5 million in television advertising.
The “Argus Leader” headline on August 10th led with “Johnson’s Decision Puts Burden on Dykstra.” The burden is not on Joel Dykstra it is on Tim Johnson to let us judge him. We deserve better a spirited campaign not a game of Beat The Clock.
Endbar – throughout this campaign we continually hear the drumbeat that Tim Johnson is delivering for South Dakota. What must not be overlooked that besides wooing us with our own money (Republicans do it too) is that being a member of the majority party in the Senate and the fact he is an incumbent up for reelection he would be sending the barrels of money back for South Dakota projects whether he is effective or ineffective. If money is the sole reason to elect him (and it is not); the question is not what he delivered this year but how effective will he be for the next 5 when he is not up for reelection.
South Dakota Straight Talk
in 2008 S D Senate Campaign
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3 Comments
Reader Comments (3)
The statement that Johnson was not giving media interviews during his recovery. That was true. Johnson was not giving interviews. What he did was a special program with Bob Woodruff - a fellow brain injury survivor. Who better than 2 prominent survivors of brain injuries to do a nationally televised program educating the country about these injuries and recovery from them? This nationally televised educational program is not typically what someone would think of as a press interview.
Debate debate. You presume that Johnson never intended to debate and that the claim that he would debate was a "falsehood". Of course you have no proof that the campaign lied. More likely is that Johnson had planned to debate, recovery permitting. Later he decided that his speech had not come back to the level he had hoped it would by now.
You further state that the burden is not on Dykstra. Actually it is, and you knew that even as you wrote your "falsehood". The burden is always on a challenger to unseat an incumbent. Dykstra's burden is to convince voters that they should switch horses. That's a heavy burden.
Dykstra is like a Somalian pirate trying to take over a Navy destroyer. He doesn't have the firepower to do it, so he's hoping Johnson will just invite him onto the destroyer so he can make a run at the bridge. Not going to happen. If Dykstra gets too close, Johnson will blow him out of the water.
The fact is, Republicans will look at their recruiting effort this year (resulting in Dykstra) as a major missed opportunity to pick up a US senate seat in a bad year for Republicans.
You must really be kicking yourself, Lee. You could have done better than Dykstra. You could have done SOMETHING.