In politics, you’re either on message or you are 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… RADIO SILENCE.
Mid-term elections have their quirks and that applies to races in Utah as much as anywhere.
Of coure, we know that most of the political action in our state is over by the time the calendar turns to July because the fight is all about getting that R by your name in the vast majority of the state and that D by your name in a few, select pockets.
And that’s one of the big reasons why there seems to be a real lack of interest in the political races going on right now.
Without a presidential or a gubernatorial race to capture people’s attention… it can all seem a bit anticlamatic.
And for a lot of campaigns, staying out of the headlines is exactly what they want.
If you secure your party’s nomination at the convention or on Primary Day, and you are in one of those districts where your party always wins… the name of the game becomes: shut up, lay low, maybe do just enough to make sure you don’t appear to be mailing it in.
In other words: Play error free baseball.
And that can be tricky. Media is still covering politics and looking for interesting stories – or in some cases to just stir up some controversy. Avoiding it is key.
So, look for campaigns with comfortable leads to do everything they can to do nothing at all. Keep it bland. Be respectful. Treat opponents with dignity and coast across the finish line.
That’s it for this week.
More On Message in the next issue of the Utah Political Underground.
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