While the Colts played on grass, Coats’ NRSC team played on Astroturf
Posted by Dan in Politics
The complaints most conservatives across Indiana have regarding Dan Coats throwing his hat into the ring is simple. They feel the Republican party is astroturfing Coats down their throats, and they do not want another beltway insider in Washington. Coats did a stellar job during his former years in Washington, but is he really the “people’s candidate?”
Just what is astroturfing?
Astroturfing is an English-language term referring to political, advertising, or public relations campaigns that are formally planned by an organization, but designed to mask its origins to create the impression of being spontaneous, popular “grassroots” behavior.
At first, there was denial, with the pols saying Coats’ decision to jump into the race was his own. Over the last week, stories have emerged telling another story.
In a story from CQ Politics they interviewed Rob Jesmer, executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, (NRSC).
… Two weeks later, Cornyn carefully called Republican former Sen. Dan Coats of Indiana in a long-shot recruitment pitch that was mostly intended to pick his brain about who might be willing to challenge incumbent Democrat Evan Bayh and his $13 million campaign account. With the filing deadline fast approaching, Coats said he was interested — much to the surprise of Jesmer, Cornyn and the NRSC political staff. In all, the wooing of Coats lasted less than 48 hours.
Jesmer always defers to Cornyn when it comes to taking credit, but there’s no doubt that his discretion — despite his affinity for chatting up the press — has contributed to the committee’s success in recruiting candidates such as Coats. Though typically as slick as his hair, Jesmer, 36, is uncharacteristically anxious answering questions about himself.
Early this morning I was forwarded the following email. It was sent by Anne Hathaway to the Lake County GOP. Some of you may remember her name. She was the Republican National Committee Chief of Staff/Regional Political Director from 2001 until last year. She now runs her own political consulting firm in Indianapolis, Hathaway Strategies.
From: Lake County GOP [mailto:lakecountygop@<snip>.net]
Sent: Sat 2/6/2010 7:26 PM
To: Lake County GOP
Subject: Super Sunday Petition Drive For Coats!———————————————-
Subject: Super Sunday Petition Drive For Coats!
Date: Sat, 6 Feb 2010 16:26:50 -0500
From: Info infoCollect on Sunday, Mail on Monday
We are all very excited that Dan Coats has expressed interest in running
for US Senate, and we need to send a strong message to Washington that
Hoosiers are not happy with the direction Evan Bayh and President Obama
are steering our country. In order to send this message, we must get Dan
Coats on the ballot. We have a very short window to collect the
signatures we need, and you can help!Please print the attached petition and take it to your church tomorrow,
and to any Super Bowl party you are planning on attending. Get all your
friends and family to fill out the petition with their signatures and
address.In order to make the signatures count we must ensure the following:
· The petition is double sided, one side for the signatures, and
the other for clerical purposes.· Make sure to put the County in the top right hand corner,
every person on a petition must be from the same county, so bring extra
copies for multiple counties.· All persons signing must include the address that they are
registered to vote.After you have gathered your signatures on Sunday, make sure to mail
them on Monday to the following address:*Anne Hathaway*
*<snip> North Delaware*
*Indianapolis, IN 46205*It is very important that the petitions get mailed on Monday so that we
can get them counted.If you have questions, please send an email to
<snip>@gmail.com and
we will be in touch with you promptly.Thank you and Go Colts!
From Anne Hathaway’s Linked-In profile :
Chief of Staff/Regional Political Director
Republican National Committee
(Political Organization industry)
2001 — 2009 (8 years )President
Hathaway Strategies
(Political Organization industry)
2009 — Present (1 year )
There’s nothing grassroots about Mr. Coats’ campaign. We already have a field of four republican candidates, but the boys in Washington don’t think we can pull off a victory so they’re giving us a 66 year-old that most people 30 and under have never heard of before.
Coats lives in the D.C. area. He’s not lived in Indiana in a decade, and in 2006 bought a bought a $1.8 million house in Wilmington, NC for his retirement. Won’t people wonder how Coats can empathize with the them when he has nothing in common with them?
The NRSC thinks he’ll connect with older voters, but I have my doubts. Older voters are upset with the status quo in Washington, and many will view this as replacing Evan Bayh with another “good old boy” politician. They want fresh new faces.
That being said, I respect Dan Coats and respect the work he accomplished during his years as a politician. He’s just the wrong person for the job.
I’m not aware of a campaign web site for Dan Coats, but the others are listed below. I’d suggest you do your homework and read where they stand on the issues and decide for yourself.
Marlin Stutzman
Don Bates Jr.
John Hostettler
Richard Behney
No related posts.
Entries (RSS)
Actually Mitch Daniels is my choice to run against Senator Bayh. That doesn’t seem to be an option, so when I read that Dan Coats was a consideration, I was quiet pleased. One of your previous contributors stated “most people over 30 never heard of him”, my response to that is I’m 74, have never missed a general election, am somewhat knowledgeable about Indiana politics and I’ve not heard of any, of the 4 announced candidates. Next to Mitch and Mike Pence, Dan Coats sounds great to me to defeat Mr. Bayh.
John Harris, Anderson, IN
Did some work with the repubs (TV) for coats in the early 80's(THE FAMILY WAS PLAYING MONOPOLY IN ONE SCENE, RISK WAS LOOKED UPON AS TOO WARLIKE A GAME), nice enough insurance company lawyer, if you look carefully he really didn't do anything stellar, he just kept getting appointed to whatever job dan quayle left, then getting re-elected as an incumbent. At this point a lobbyist for Bankers, and various arab countries should be the democrats dream, I am hard pressed to think of a worst candidate. Should be a hoot to see who wins the primary.
FYI…John Hostettler served 6 terms in congress, not 3 as was mentioned by AWB…just wanted to set the record straight.
Hi John,
Thanks for the comment. What I said was: "they’re giving us a 66 year-old that most people 30 and under have never heard of before." Note, under.
Mike Pence would have been a great choice, and Mitch isn't running for anything. Personally, I'm not will to "settle" for what the boys in Washington think is good for Hoosiers. We need new blood in Washington, not someone that's doing it for all the wrong reasons.
You must not be that knowledgeable in regard to Indiana politics. John Hostettler served 3 terms in the congress representing Indiana, and Marlin Stutzman is an Indiana Senator and former state rep.
Try the links at the bottom of the article if you really want to become knowledgeable.
Would that not make Hostettler a insider?
Coats did a stellar job when he was in the Senate? You've got to be kidding! Coats was a stellar senator like Bush was a stellar president. In fact Coats practically invented Bush's so-called "compassionate conservatism." Here are a couple great Cato pieces from back then that talk about it:
http://www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/pr-nd-ec.h...
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4544
If you think all our problems are to be solved by the central planning of a gargantuan federal government, then Coats is your man. But if you're a small government proponent, then you might as well flip a coin to see who's worse between him and Bayh.
Neither Hostettler nor Coats can lay claim to being an outsider, but then the true outsiders are those who have no political leadership experience at all like Behney. Lets be honest we have a handful of conservatives who would like a chance to beat Evan Bayh. Which one has the best chance?
I say the one who can knock off Washington's elite candidate, Dan Coats, will be the one who will gain the mantle of giant killer and be able to raise the money and network of activists to beat Evan Bayh. Glad to have Dan Coats for that reason.
Briefs,
Glad I came back to read this again after reading it late last night. I caught the last sentence and sighed and went to bed.