Chandler Woodcock |
MESSAGE AND STRATEGY State senator Chandler Woodcock struggles to express his message in a sentence. “I’m not sure we have that,” he says, eventually talking about “a need for a change” and “a matter of leadership and trust.” His manager, Chris Jackson, is more specific, striking the Republican notes of lower taxes, lower government spending, and reduced regulation of health insurance.Woodcock does not want to dwell on his social conservatism: “I would not overturn any agenda.”
Instead, his campaign has dwelled on his biography. He is presented in ads as a clichéd real Maine man — veteran, teacher, coach, fly-fisherman. His bio plays best to rural Republicans, as do his social positions. It’s strange for his campaign still to be playing to his base, although his temperate manner, in person and on TV, counteracts the Democrats’ longing to paint him as a wild-eyed, right-wing wacko.
TALENT Chris Jackson, 33, made his reputation by organizing Woodcock’s clever primary victory, but this is his first statewide general election. Previously, he managed some state senate campaigns. He has hired only three staffers. Woodcock has the benefit of the state and national Republican apparatuses, but many Maine mainstream Republicans give him support in name only, if that.
“I tend to support moderate Republicans,” says prominent lobbyist Jon R. Doyle, pregnantly, when asked whom he favors in the race. He lobbies for the power elite: bankers, hospitals, Central Maine Power.
MONEY “The governor’s been starving us,” says Jackson. “Everybody said you’re going to have $1.2 million, but it’s not true.” As of September 26, the campaign had only $43,000 on hand. It already had spent $196,000 on television.
TV ADS Locally made, most of the video is in the can, Jackson says, waiting for the matching funds to flow. One 30-second spot that has appeared, which shows the candidate equating a flowing river with a flowing economy, has a diffuse and platitudinous message (“It’s about you and me”). Jackson promises that Woodcock’s TV ads will not be negative. The national Republican ads play that role.
To get a sample of the size of the spending by the two party groups, the Phoenix looked into Portland’s Channel 6 and 13 campaign-ad files, accessible to the public by law. As of September 29, the Maine Democratic Party had spent $223,000 and the Republican Governors Association $189,000 — just at those two stations.
NEWS COVERAGE “The more they see the guy the more irritated [voters] get,” Jackson says, hopefully, of Baldacci’s many appearances in the press. He adds: “There’s no mistaking the fact that the guy works his ass off.” To counter this Baldacci energy, quiet Chandler Woodcock has not generated much attention.
GRASS-ROOTS “That’s how we’re going to win,” Jackson says. “It’s how we won the primary,” with a great deal of help from the evangelical churches. Jackson claims not to be aware of such organizing going on now. It can be safely assumed, however, that the Christian right is organizing like hell, though it may be inconsequential in a general election.
