This is Campaigning 101 – Campaign Staff at ANY level should keep their mouths shut and stay out of sight. The Candidate should own the spotlight. Period.
Sure, there will be some that are “authorized to speak to the public or the media”. These are the “experienced” ones that know all the ins and outs and can recognize the landmines or traps that they may be stepping into. Or not (emphasis mine, reformatted):
Carpetbagging question
Messner has faced attacks on the authenticity of his connection to New Hampshire from Democrats, and from his Republican primary opponent Don Bolduc. On WMUR this week, Messner’s campaign tried to turn the attack back on Bolduc.
“He’s had his head on the pillow in New Hampshire more than anyone else in this race over the last decade,” said Messner campaign senior adviser Mike Biundo.
Bolduc senior adviser Josh McElveen took umbrage, saying the statement read as an attack on Bolduc’s military service.
“While Don Bolduc was sleeping in the dirt of Afghanistan fighting for all of us, Corky chooses to imply that sleeping in his vacation home in Wolfeboro qualifies him as a Granite Stater when all his interests were in Colorado,”
McElveen said Wednesday. Biundo said Messner was focused on beating Shaheen.
Is this a mockup of the old Three Stooges slapstick routines when Moe starts making his points clear with Larry and Curley – lots of kicking and slaps? Or simply what we used to see in our DayCare’s toddler room. You’d thunk that they would have IMMEDIATELY have recognized that they were both going into the same minefield at the same time (albeit from different directions).
But “NO!!!!!” as Blutarsky would half yell / moan (Animal House – kinda fitting here). It’s like a Pringle – they can’t slap just once:
“Corky respects Don’s military service. We stand by all our statements thus far,” he wrote in an email. “Our campaign will not engage in this kind of pettiness as it is everything that’s wrong with politics, and it’s an insult to New Hampshire voters.”
Too late – just did!
The campaigns’ senior advisers, McElveen for Bolduc, and Biundo for Messner — took a chance to snipe at each other last week, too. After Messner’s campaign tweeted about the endorsement of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), McElveen wrote,
Given @MichaelBiundo ran Rand Paul’s dumpster fire of a campaign I understand the endorsement. Where’s Rick Santorum? Or is he bothered by @CorkyForSenate support of Chuck Schumer and morning after pill?
Biundo wrote back:
“Oh good, I thought they fired you!! Glad you still have the job!”
There are a couple of races that I think are gonna end up like the Andy Sanborn-Eddie Edwards campaign. That was one of the muddiest races that I have watched since becoming politically aware around 2004. Just downright NASTY and no one came out unscathed.
So they made themselves the news and broke Rule #1. If these two chuckleheads (I specifically use that word because they know better) don’t stop, they’ll make their candidates look like chumps. They won’t help their own careers either.
Nitwits.
(H/T: Union Leader)
