Best and Worst Campaigns

PoliticsPA.com has a feature up commenting on the best and worst campaigns of 2006.  I thought I'd highlight their picks, add a few personal comments, and expand upon their selections from my own observations.

Their Best:

Jim Gerlach for Congress
Chris Carney for Congress
Rick Santorum for Senate
Bob Casey for Senate

Their Worst:

Don Sherwood for Congress
Curt Weldon for Congress
Chad Kluko for Congress

My List:

Best Campaigns

Ed Rendell for Governor
Chris Carney for Congress
Rick Santorum for Senate
Bob Casey for Senate
Jason Altmire for Congress

Worst

Lois Murphy for Congress
Chad Kluko for Congress
Charles Dertinger for Congress

The Gerlach effort was an intensely negative campaign and also violated federal law with their pre-election robo calls.  That shouldn't be rewarded.

Ed Rendell's was the best campaign ever.  Both Senate campaigns were run well.  Casey didn't actually campaign much but if I'd been his consultant I'd have recommended exactly what they did.  Santorum's staff was stuck with an unelectable candidate as were Sherwood and Weldon's.  Santorum has always had an excellent staff and they were very good.  Their only mis-step was the jail ad that backfired.

My picks for worst:  anyone reading the blog knows why I choose Lois Murphy as the worst.  If I could publish some of the emails I've gotten from volunteers inside her campaign you'd be shocked at the incompetence.  Kluko had an opportunity against Tim Murphy and never exploited it.  Duh???  How big an opening do you need?  Did they do anything?

Dertinger never raised the money necessary to run an effective campaign.  Rob Hopkins did a wonderful job with the resources at his disposal but they were too few.  There was no candidate until after the primary and that's too late in the cycle for serious fund raising and establishing name recognition.  Why can't we run a competitive campaign in the Lehigh Valley?

As for the Weldon and Sherwood campaigns there was nothing they could do to overcome the candidate's negatives.  Even the best efforts in the country wouldn't have saved these two scoundrels from themselves.  To me the worst campaigns have to be those that had a chance to win or be competitive and failed.

Comments

[greendogdem]

Two words "Coordinated Campaign". Everyone on the ballot below Casey and Rendell in the valley that had to run outside the cities were more or less screwed. Beyond this there is no structure in place outside of the major cities to do anything, at this point.

If you were running a state rep campaign or were a candidate in one you had your volunteer list stole the Hdcc went around bad mouth you to donars, and to labor groups. If they had not looted the state rep campaigns Dertinger might have done better in the Suburbs and rural areas then he did.

The republicans all worked together in Lehigh county supported each others campaigns instead of murdering each other.

If we had 5 fully functional state rep and 2 state sentate campaigns working in tandum with Dertinger everyone would have done better instead we all lost. In the areas we didn't already hold.

[John Morgan]

The Coordinated Campaigns always, always, concentrate on the top of the ticket. The HDCC was supposed to concentrate on the house efforts and did here. I can't figure out why the LV can't find strong candidates for the top of the ticket then work together. It's getting our brains beat in over there. That's a region where we should be strong.

[greendogdem]

The Hdcc more or let all the candidates hang themselves in the Lehigh valley.

[greendogdem]

Why we can't find strong candidate hum. Maybe it's because no one thinks they can win because no one ever gets real support. The strong candidates would rather stay in their safe positions rather than lose and have a mark on their record