He’s got a helluva challenge on his hands if he’s going to come back and beat Chris McDaniel. But Thad Cochran at least seems to be making a fight of it on TV. Here’s a new TV* ad which has what appear to be various off color remarks from a radio show McDaniel used to host: lots of talk about ‘hookers and blow for everyone’, female candidates who are “using her breasts to run for office.” Not totally shocking for what you hear on talk radio. But maybe a problem for a would-be United States Senator. Here’s the ad after the jump …
The ad is structured as a TV ad. For now it’s just on the web. I’m told, but can’t confirm independently, that it will be on air in the state next week.
I think what we can draw from this ad is that Cochran recognizes the obvious, which is that he can’t out-Tea Party, out-crazy or out-conservative McDaniel, though it’s an interesting semantic question whether McDaniel is really more ‘conservative’ than Cochran in any comprehensible sense of the word. The aim seems to be to make the case that McDaniel just lacks the dignity to represent the state in the Senate.
As noted, I feel like Cochran’s got an incredibly steep hill to climb. When you’re a decades long senator and an upstart out polls you in a primary, it’s really, really hard to shift those dynamics and come back to win. The Cantor defenestration only motivates national Tea Party types more, which means lots of money for McDaniel and maybe a more concerted push from the outside groups. But as noxious as Mississippi political culture can be (and that’s a lot), there is a courtliness thing about its senators, something the state’s electorate seems to gravitate toward. So perhaps this can get some traction. On the other hand, if the nursing home and courthouse capers didn’t it, will this?
