Do you want to believe?
In a decidedly blue state, until recently Senator Al Franken has been considered pretty safe. But you should never count your chickens. From his behavior, I'd say Franken is playing it smart in the lead up to August when things will really warm up. He's adopted a strategy of keeping his head down and
focusing on serious issues, like ending Citizens United and taking the lead in getting an important provision into the Obamacare law. Although many appreciated the caustic wit of his former Air America program, Minnesotans like humility in their senate incumbents. While in the senate, Rudy Boschwitz peddled flavored milk for many years at the Minnesota State Fair (important in a dairy state), and during the fair, Paul Wellstone was accessible almost every day. Today there are few who need Al to convince them that
Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot. Franken's quieter, nose to the grindstone demeanor should play well with Minnesota voters who pay attention to the race, and should minimize surprises when things heat up later in the year.
On the other hand, the emerging republican challenger Mike McFadden seems to be rising to prominence mostly because the Republican Party of Minnesota is broke. He reportedly has a war chest of $1.7 million on hand, which nearly matches Franken's $2 million. What is McFadden offering Minnesotans? Not very much. Look over his campaign website and Facebook page, and there are really only two issues with any prominence: he wants to get rid of Obamacare, and he doesn't like Franken.
In fairness, I looked at Al Franken's webpage to see what his stand is on the issues. In a pulldown menu called, appropriately enough, Issues, it lists his stance and actions on the following: Agriculture and Rural Issues, Civil Rights, Consumer Protection, Crime, Economy and Jobs, Education, Energy & Education, Executive Branch and Judicial Nominations, Health Care, Indian Affairs, Retirement Security, Transportation & Infrastructure, and Veterans, Defense & Foreign Affairs. I'm not doing this to compare two candidates, although to be honest, I am rooting for Franken. What I want to point out here is how it is that McFadden has so little to say, although some are saying that the 'McFadden Factor' has altered expectations in the Franken race.
What is McFadden doing to alter the race? If you look closely at his campaign image, and his online campaign presence, he has little to say for himself even compared to others competing for the GOP nomination, like Chris Dahlberg and Julianne Ortman.
Are we so jaded that this is really the status quo? Is all you need to emerge as front-runner in a state senate race money, opposition to your opponent, and a stand on health care that is rife with inaccuracies?
He may not know a lot about government, but something Mike McFadden does know about is branding. Although not much on the issues, his Wikipedia page points out that between college and law school, he worked as a Marketing Representative for IBM. There's more...
The mcbranding of Mike McFadden
The image above is what greets you when you go to McFadden's
website or
Facebook page. The first thing you might notice is the McDonalds-esque arches that are his campaign logo. A good businessman and former Marketing Representative for IBM, McFadden knows the value of a good symbol and how to swipe it. Until recently, at least, many viewed McDonalds as being American as apple pie. Democratic, republican--fast food is a big tent, right?
Another is the conspicuous absence of red, or anything else to openly brand him as republican (as in red state/blue state). It's true that below his image on his Facebook page, the fine print says "Republican candidate running for U.S. Senate in Minnesota." But you have to hunt for it, and there is no such statement on his homepage. Why is that? If most people are happy with his senate race opponent, Al Franken, you don't want to tip them off too quickly that even though there hasn't yet been a primary, you're currently the GOP frontrunner. You're going to try to woo them over in other ways.
The closest thing to red in the image is orange. Let's call that 'red light.' If you catch on to the possibility that he wants to run as a republican, perhaps the muted red is meant to signal that he's not too conservative? His name is presented in orange or 'red light', but that seems to be a small concession. If you're marketing, you want to create a cozy feeling in your potential customers, and that's what you're really selling, not the product, right?
McFadden's style of branding departs significantly from his two chief competitors for the republican nomination, Chris Dahlberg and Julianne Ortman. A visit to Dahlberg's homepage shows that he has no qualms displaying his political stripes. While I'm not a supporter, I am fan of truth in advertising, and he lets you know that he'll be taking part in an upcoming Mille Lacs Tea Party Patriot meeting, is a fiscal conservative, against abortion rights, etc. The recent announcement that KSTP owner Stanley Hubbard is serving as the Dahlberg campaign's finance chair means we are going to be hearing a lot more from him. Ortman's homepage is wordier but as direct in its own way, and the most comparable to democratic incumbent Franken's, as it states, then elaborates on, the following:
Ortman has significant experience as a spokesperson for the Senate Republican Caucus. While in office she has served on the Tax, Judiciary, State Government, Higher Education, Public Safety, Transportation, Economic Development and Rules Committees.
While I'm not saying I'd vote for her (I am, in fact, rooting for Franken), so far Ortman appears to be the republican candidate who might do the best job, even though she does not seem to be getting as much press as McFadden and Dahlberg. Such is politics, and the priorities of news outlets.
What would they make of the McFadden campaign?
Two other things I want to say about McFadden's campaign imagery before I get into what he says he stands for (as little of that as he makes accessible). The first is the slogan, "Believe in a Better Minnesota." Do we have a Chris Carter fan in either McFadden or his handlers? There is a deep irony in this slogan, and it's parallel to Mulder's poster in the X-Files. The second is the watery backdrop, which seems to evoke common 'ground' for Minnesotans (the Land of 10,000 Lakes, Mille Lacs, Boundary Waters, and Lake Superior). Is it a coincidence that the image delivers the canoers in its lower register to the right side of the image? Maybe the message is, that's what have to believe in if you want a better Minnesota. Sigh.
What about McFadden's real stance on issues? From what I can see, there are two with any substance. This first is he doesn't like his opponent Al Franken. In a news flash on his website, he calls him the most partisan senator. That logic is hard to follow after last fall's shutdown and the right's brinksmanship. But maybe he thinks this will play well with the voters he hopes to pick up. The second is his opposition to Obamacare. He uses his website to promote his petition to repeal the Affordable Care Act. In fact, that may be his only real campaign issue so far. While the unrolling of Obamacare has been rocky, we now know the speculations about lost jobs and loss of junk policies are premature at best and misleading at worst (see this Huff Post story on the Truth About Those Canceled Health Plans).
My family and I were successful in signing up for a new health plan. We had Blue Cross coverage before, and so far we're quite happy with what we have now.
Here's a good question: with his campaign imagery in mind, and considering the threats posed to the Boundary Waters by proposed sulfide mines, what's his stance on the environment?
I should add a third issue to McFadden's platform. In a few places in his campaign website, he mentions his support of education. If his campaign materials are any indication, that deserves a very skeptical reception. He's got a nice muzak-y image going, but he's low on issues and those he's touting run afoul of the facts. That doesn't get a very high grade for a candidate who says he wants to reform education.
Interestingly, he's leaving a lot of negative comments up on his Facebook page. Maybe it's all an experiment designed to test the waters to see if he really stands a chance. If it is, where is that $1.7 million in his warchest going to go, if in the end he bows out of the race?