In politics, you’re either on-message or you’re losing. Let’s get to it.
Welcome to On Message, a weekly look at where the battle lines are drawn and who is winning the war of words.
This week… Know Your Audience.
The Legislative Session is now in its second week and that means we just wrapped up the opening pomp and circumstance (everything ranging from the obligatory reading-in of all the bills to the opening speeches from the Speaker of the House and Senate President, culminating with the State of the State address by the governor).
Having played a role in writing a few State of the State addresses myself, I find that one particularly interesting and two sections, in particular, stood out to me.
First, election security. This has been a big topic nationwide since… oh, about… let me see… January 6th-ish 2021.
Of course, here in Utah, vote by mail has been a huge success predating the attempt to overthrow the government and the governor sent one of his strongest messages on the subject.
Governor Cox:
“Unfortunately, some in our country have found that unsubstantiated claims and flat-out lies are an effective way to destabilize our constitutional republic and make it harder for their opponents to participate and vote. Voting security must never be about making it harder for legal voters to vote. Please beware of false choices. As a conservative, I believe that we should always work to make constitutional rights more accessible, not less. I am very proud that voter participation has increased since I became Lt. Governor and now Governor. We can have safe and secure elections without making it harder to exercise our constitutional right to vote.”
For a governor in a conservative state to stake out what is somehow a moderate position (only insomuch as it contradicts the Trump talking points), that’s a courageous move and one that I think speaks to a majority of Utahns.
The second standout section was of a similar vein as Governor Cox went right at conspiracy theorists.
Governor Cox:
“As I have traveled the state, I’ve heard some argue that the Constitution will someday, if not now, hang by a thread and need rescuing. I worry that what a few of them fail to see is that, they — just like those for whom they have so much disdain and contempt — are daily hacking away at those cords, recklessly believing that they will know exactly when to stop slicing and start saving. Tonight, I’m asking every one of us to do our part to start tying those “mystic c[h]ords of memory” back together again.”
That’s another direct shot at the far right-wing of his own party. It all fed into the overall theme that in Utah we can come together to address our challenges and “do big things.”
So, what’s the lesson?
The most important element of any speech is the one that has to be addressed before you write the first word. Define your audience. In other words, know to whom you are speaking and address them directly.
It’s easy for a governor to forget that the audience for a State of the State is not the people in the room. Legislators know what your policy priorities are before you get there. This is not a policy speech that is intended to move your priorities through the House and Senate. That all gets done in a dozen different ways over the other 44 days.
The State of the State speech is for the non-politicos; for the voters.
I realize it’s not appointment television for a majority of the state but this is, generally, the biggest stage for the governor all year. For a larger audience, he gets more than a soundbite and for the rest, the media coverage will focus on what he wants to say and what he deems most important.
And, in that respect, I give the governor high marks.
He, of course, also hit on education funding, vowing to pay teachers more. He talked about COVID and thanked our healthcare workers. And, as an honorable mention, he told California transplants they are welcome here, so long as they leave their progressive politics somewhere in the Nevada desert.
But the tone he set was a very Utah balance between conservative policy and moderate tone.
Not a bad half-hour, especially for government work.
That’s it for this week.
More On Message in the next issue of the Utah Political Underground.
Make sure you visit the site and sign up for our weekly email update. You can find more On Message videos, in-depth Utah political stories and analysis, plus podcasts and more at utahpoliticalundergound.com.
