2008 Primaries, Branding Politix, Messaging, Views on News, public relations, wispundits • February 27th, 2008

Hijacked: Third-parties rising?

by Chris Lato

I haven’t written anything yet about the state Supreme Court race, but this article serves as a timely reminder of the sway that independent, third-party groups can hold over elections.

In the upcoming spring election, Judge Michael Gableman faces Justice Louis Butler, a Gov. Doyle appointee.

(Disclosure: Gableman’s key advisor, Darrin Schmitz, was the guy who hired me at the state GOP back in Preview »2001.)

Let’s face it – the high court races are pretty much non-partisan in name only, and the overall tone seems to be getting nastier with each election. It has been trending this way for a long time. It is fair to ask the degree to which independent groups are ramping up the rhetoric and driving the debate.

This is a challenge for high-profile candidates. What happens when you lose control of your message, the campaign is essentially hijacked, and some third-party starts setting the rules? Candidates I have worked for have expressed that concern, particularly if the race shows signs of heading for the gutter. The candidate can be tainted as the mudslinger.

Sometimes, third parties are more than willing to sling the really ugly mud that the candidate himself would not do – and the candidate can simply shrug and point out that he has no control over what these groups do, while enjoying the benefits or blowback from that mudslinging.

Candidates are asked to respond all the time to the latest third-party ad. The pushback is simple. The candidate is not responsible for the ad, campaigns are not supposed to collude with independent groups. The candidate can always publicly reject the ad, call for third parties to end their involvement in the race, etc. and then immediately use that opportunity to get back on-message. Any media opportunity is an opportunity to bring things all back around to the candidate’s key messages.

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