RON: BJ Starts a Series

In the campaign biz it's called "earned media" -- the coverage you get because your issue is actually news. Paid media good, earned media better. The RON effort has been getting crazy earned media. Today the Beacon Journal starts a series on the four issues.

Two items stand out. The first is the juxtaposition of "Pat DeWine says there will be massive fruad" with data data data showing no fraud in other states.

The other was the sidebar about recent developments recounting the Ohio Black Legislative Caucus's endorsement. The antiRON GOP blog grasped at the "coalition falling apart" straw last week, claiming that the Black Caucus was considering opposing RON's redistricting issue lest they lose black representation. Quoth Rep. Barbara Sykes: such claims are "bogus."

Aside from piles of wishful thinking, the GOP blog is full of what I call "the mourning dove defense." Back in the mid-90s the General Assembly, after a number of failed attempts, passed a law permitting mourning dove hunting. Some state animal rights activists put together a petition drive and got a repeal drive on the ballot.

The pro-dead-dove forces did not actually advocate dead doves. Instead they attacked PETA. Mind you, PETA wasn't actually in the fight, but no matter. They said that saving mourning doves would be the first step toward ending medical research and banning meat. The pro-dove folks had no money, the dove killers did. By the end the dove saving measure went from 20 points up to 20 points down.

So the GOP invoking Soros as the great boogeyman of RON is desparation. It also might work.