Blogs explode with “Hitler” ad responses.
We political bloggers yammer on all day about the Virginia race, but outside of the few dozen of us, there’s precious little talk about the matchup between Lt. Governor Tim Kaine and Jerry Kilgore.
That changed this week, thanks to Kilgore’s “Hitler” ad.
A quick Google blog search reveals dozens of blogs in Virginia and also around the country who have suddenly started paying attention. Though I haven’t tallied, it looks like about half of the people are Democrats that are angry with Kilgore for the ad, 40% are Republicans or independents who are turning on Kilgore because of the ad, and 10% people saying that they hate them both now and won’t be voting at all. (The latter is, in all likelihood, the true goal of this ad.)
I don’t claim that the results are statistically meaningful, but it does tell me that Kilgore’s ad is backfiring among some, and has had the unintended consequence of getting Democrats around Virginia and the nation to rally to Kaine’s support. They’re sending money and volunteering on the get out the vote effort.
Kilgore’s attack on Kaine may be just the boost that Kaine needed to get Virginia Democrats fired up about his campaign. Much of the base has been unenthused — there have been no real issues, and Kaine is way, way to the right of Democratic activists. I stood up before the UVa Young Democrats on Wednesday evening, giving a presentation on political blogging, and showed them that ad. The students were horrified, and several later told me, in person and by email, that they were upset enough about the ad that they’d decided to get involved.
I’m reminded of the television ad that Democrat Al Weed ran against Rep. Virgil Goode (R-05) a year ago. It was a really harsh attack ad, and it ran on several of the TV stations whose signals reach the 5th. The majority of the people that I talked to about it said that it made them feel defensive of Virgil Goode. Most of these people were Democrats, mind you — few of them were keen on Goode. But they bristled at seeing him treated so disrespectfully, particularly since it was their first real exposure to the fact that Goode even had a challenger. I don’t know if it’s accurate to say that the ad backfired, but among my fellow political science students and professors at Virginia Tech, it really galvanized them.
This “Hitler” ad may prove to be the best thing yet for Tim Kaine.
14 Comments