McDaniel Spokesman Slams Cochran Campaign For Releasing Voicemail

U.S. Senate candidate Chris McDaniel (R-Ms), speaks to a gathering at FreePAC Kentucky, Saturday, April 5, 2014, at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
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Sen. Thad Cochran’s (R-MS) campaign on Sunday released a voicemail of primary challenger state Sen. Chris McDaniel’s campaign manager calling the Cochran campaign about the arrest of a pro-McDaniel blogger.

The voicemail appears to contradicts McDaniel’s statement about the arrest. He told The Hill that he didn’t hear about Clayton Kelly, who was arrested for breaking into Cochran’s wife Rose’s nursing home to take a photo of her, until Saturday morning. Yet in the voicemail McDaniel campaign manager Melanie Sojourner said that she learned of the arrest on Friday night.

On Sunday, a McDaniel campaign spokesperson criticized the Cochran campaign for releasing the audio in a statement to the Clarion-Ledger.

“We are shocked and appalled, by how the Cochran campaign is using the actions of a sick individual to slander Chris McDaniel,” the campaign spokesman said.

Since McDaniel’s Saturday morning interview, his campaign has tried to clarify what they knew and when about Kelly’s arrest. In a statement Saturday night, the campaign said that Sojourner knew about the arrest on Friday night, and McDaniel was filled in “briefly” about it on Saturday morning.

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Notable Replies

  1. This is Exhibit A in explaining why voters are turned off. Two guys yelling at each other through proxies about who did what, “No, I didn’t, you did!” “no, you did it first!” and it’s irrelevant to anything voters care about and who can only sit and watch the unfolding pettiness.

  2. What’s going on in public has little or nothing to do with what’s really go on here.

    It appears the McDaniel campaign has no idea how to address this, which doesn’t bode well for their campaign.

  3. And right on cue, the McDaniel campaign takes the bait, and then fumbles the response, which is just as the Cochran people guessed they would.

    What a gift.

  4. Well, since McDaniel did manage to address his elephant in his room when he said this:

    “…from day one I have demanded that our staff not get involved in certain aspects of Sen. Cochran’s personal life.”

    I’d say that it’s just the Cochran team trying to have the upper hand.

    McDaniel already has relationships and views that make him repugnant. Cochran may not be as bad, but he was raised a democrat and became a republican in the 60’s (wonder why), so he’s definitely not someone I respect.

    Mississippi does not do the nation proud.

  5. Pretty soon everyone will be “shocked and appalled” by a shock jock like McDaniel.

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