The pattern of America’s unceasing campaign seasons has lately been of races decided in the summer even though Election Day is in November.
No surprise, then, that chess master Attorney General Bob Ferguson is up with a “shock and awe” blitz of TV spots, introducing himself to the voters but also trying to define his presumed Republican opponent as “anti-choice Dave Reichert.”
The stakes go beyond Washington, especially if the nation endures a Trump restoration. Democratic AGs were effective agents of resistance during Trump’s chaotic first term and provided the party with a bench. Two of the attorneys general, Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania and Maura Healy in Massachusetts, have been elected, while Ferguson and North Carolina AG Josh Stein are seeking to move up.
Defining your foe while introducing and reintroducing yourself is a potent blend of tactics, perfected by the 1988 George H.W. Bush campaign with its pictures of a glowering violent criminal, Willie Horton, allowed out on furlough under Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis.
The Supreme Court took a right away from American women but delivered a gift to the Democrats with its Dobbs decision overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that had legalized abortion across the country. The uterus provided Sen. Patty Murray with a path to a sixth term in an election year when the Dems held the Senate and actually picked up a seat.
The ads defending a woman’s rights to choose worked in socially liberal Washington, which first voted to legalize abortion under a Republican governor in 1970. The Democrats are using it again, with Rep. Pramila Jayapal airing a spot describing her own abortion and praising the doctor.
Ferguson is featuring an OB/GYN, Dr. Erin Berry, spotlighting Reichert’s votes in Congress to restrict abortion. The issue of risk is introduced with the words, “We can’t give Dave Reichert the chance to take away reproductive rights.”
It’s not fun in politics to be defined. Just ask Dukakis, 13 points ahead in a post-convention poll. Or Mitt Romney, relentlessly depicted as a heartless plutocrat and corporate takeover mogul by the 2012 Obama campaign. Obama easily weathered a weak debate performance.
Ferguson is also setting a trap for Reichert, who is trying to sound like a reassuring old sheriff to a moderate electorate, while feeding the blood lust of MAGA-minded zealots of the Republican base. Awful hard to do both. Hence, Washington State Democrats are saddling the sheriff with a litany of secular sins, such as telling one audience that marriage is between a man and a woman. One release has come with the headline, “Reminder: Dave Reichert begins at conception.”
Reichert has tried to hit back with a spot claiming Ferguson has not done enough to fight crime — a pitch which fell flat in Republican Tiffany Smiley’s challenge to Sen. Murray. As well, Ferguson went into the battle of the airwaves with a war chest of more than $7 million to spend. He promptly accused Reichert of “going negative” with “misleading attacks.”
What, pray tell, does all this have to do with governing? After all, the ability to govern is the acid test of politics, although making voters like you, and distrust your opponent, is what gives you the chance to govern.
Ferguson is promising a slightly different approach than three-term Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee, largely absorbed with his climate change agenda and spotlighting new energy sources. Our “green” governor may be a hero to MSNBC anchors, but is rarely seen in such places as the state’s “rust belt” in Southwest Washington. Deep troubles have hit the state’s ferry fleet on Inslee’s watch: the incumbent is a big booster of electric boats. Ferguson says he will back two new diesel-powered ferries, “if this is the fastest solution.”
Ferguson let Inslee in on the action during battles over Trump’s bid to bar travel from several Muslim countries, and to block heavy-handed efforts to roll back environmental laws. A grateful Inslee endorsed Ferguson on the day he announced for Governor. Now, however, Ferguson is quietly establishing a bit of distance, at least in emphasis. An example: Attend Pacific County Democrats’ crab feed, oldest continuous political event in the state, and Bob Ferguson will drape a crustacean on your plate in the chow line. Inslee has ignored the feed, and been bitten by Pacific County voters.
Of course, there’s lots Ferguson can take credit for, from squeezing money out of the Sackler family for aggressively marketing its addictive OxyContin painkiller, to securing a whopping judgment against the powerful Grocery Manufacturers’ Assn. for laundering money spent to counter a ballot initiative. He also brought down anti-tax initiative maestro Tim Eyman.
So, things are looking bright for Bob, unless he gets to heavily identified with greedy Democratic interest groups, or Biden really tanks. Inslee pulled ahead of GOP Attorney General Bob McKenna in 2012 after willing the summertime airwaves with a funny spot about his life on both sides of the Cascades. McKenna never caught up.
Washington voters display an independent streak. They elected a Republican governor, Dan Evans, in the teeth of Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 landslide, and a Democrat, Booth Gardner, as Ronald Reagan headed for a 49-state sweep in 1984.
The Democratic AG’s stopped a lot of the Trump agenda the last time out, taking advantage of erratic and sloppy legal work. In the future, with the Heritage Foundation working the drawing board and Trump-appointed judges sitting on the bench, the task will be a lot more challenging.
Reichert’s running a terrible campaign. Really spectacularly bad. He seems so afraid of Semi Bird and thee MAGA base that he’s essentially rendered himself unelectable in the general election.
Agreed, Sandeep. Voters should know the three basic factors that define Dave Reichert. He’s old, he’s lazy, and he’s dumb. Bob Ferguson is none of these.