Vote '08

Tennessee Senator Bob Corker shared some thoughts with the Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne on the current state of the GOP & its thrice-tried, thrice failed strategy to win seats in Congress. In his view, his colleagues are not learning the lessons he gained with his experience running against Harold Ford, Junior for the Senate seat he narrowly won in 2006.

Excerpts from the column, with video excerpts to help embellish the points:

“Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican elected in the face of the 2006 Democratic sweep, understands the panic that took hold in his party this week following its loss in a ruby-red district.

Corker is familiar with the feeling. His readiness to tell his story says much about the alienation of many Republicans from the national party’s stale approach to politics and the limits of negative advertising. It is also a warning toGOP strategists who think that personal attacks on Barack Obama will be sufficient to win the presidency.

Facing a tough contest against Harold Ford, Jr., a young, telegenic African American congressman, Corker says he watched his campaign flounder as his consultants ran television ads that tried to paint his opponent, a moderately conservative Democrat, as a “liberal.”

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“They were grotesque,” Corker said of his own commercials in an interview this week. “It was just the same old stuff.” By contrast, he said, Ford’s spots were “fresh and refreshing.”

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Corker, the former mayor of Chattanooga, called in new consultants and switched to a more positive campaign. “We kept the race about Tennessee,” he said. “We focused on my life, on who I was as a person.”

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Independent voters who had been attracted to Ford started moving Corker’s way.

Yet the national party almost blew the race near the end, Corker said, by running an ad that many saw as racist. The commercial, aired without Corker’s knowledge, included a young, blonde, white actress declaring that she had met Ford “at the Playboy party.” It ended with her whispering the words: “Harold, call me.”

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Corker was furious, and not just because his six-point lead melted into a four-point deficit. The party eventually pulled the radioactive ad, and Corker won narrowly. The senator has advised Republican colleagues in tough races this year to resist national party ads that mention their opponents.

…

…Corker said voters did not believe the Republicans were “solving the major problems,” notably guaranteeing Americans health coverage. “We just haven’t been responsible,” Corker said. “We deserve to be where we are. I hope we right ourselves.”

In his two years in the Senate thus far, Bob Corker has done a good job, I think, of keeping a long view of his party, & not getting wrapped up in taking stands based on the political expediency of the moment. Republicans would do themselves a favor by listening to him.

I will say that on the other hand, as one who viewed the “Harold, Call Me” ad ad infinitum/ad nauseum when it aired on NewsChannel 9, it’s my opinion that Corker did not act quickly enough to pull the ad from the airwaves, especially if what he says about it today is true. It was effective for his campaign. That’s part of why the GOP is still betting all their chips on this kind of strategy in the districts they lost this year. It will be interesting to see which Corker (”candidate” or “senator”) the GOP will heed.

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