Monday, October 17, 2005

Zien gets a serious, blogging opponent

Pat Kreitlow, who until May was a news anchor at WEAU-TV in Eau Claire, announced over the weekend that he will run for the State Senate next year against incumbent Dave Zien.

Kreitlow looks like a strong candidate who will give Zien a run for his money.

Kreitlow writes a good blog, too. A recent entry cleverly dissected a Zien fund-raising letter, which pushed all the buttons to try to get contributions:


"Dear Friend,

"We are less than a year away from our next campaign kickoff, and already the liberals are gunning for me.

"While I do not have a declared opponent as of yet, the liberal media has been touting a former TV news anchor as Madison's chosen opponent against me.

"While this elitist former media personality will be given free air time and news print by his fellow liberal media comrades, I will be having to pay for any and all air time and news print I receive.

"With the usual government feeders seeking to unseat me, with Madison Democrats already placing a target on my back, and with an all but declared liberal media person running against me, we'’re in for a tough battle. To even be competitive, I must raise $100,000 by the end of this year.

"Remember, our likely opponent will have the edge between the financial backing of WEAC, the Democratic Party, and through free promotion by his comrades in the liberal media.”

Kreitlow reacts:


Whew.

For those of you keeping score at home, that's five "liberals," one "elitist," one “gunning" reference (always a classic), and a whopping TWO "comrades" associated with the "liberal media." There aren'’t two "comrades" left in the Kremlin, but they are apparently running rampant somewhere in Dave Zien’s Wisconsin! His letter also talks about working to "curb the DNR'’s abusive power," and "seeking help from government abuse."

That's odd talk considering that Dave Zien been part of Wisconsin government since the election of 1988. Between his comfortable salary and his oft-discussed motorcycle reimbursements, couldn'’t one easily mistake Dave for the "government feeders" he cites in his letter?

His letter makes three “asks" for contributions in his effort to put $100,000 in the bank A FULL YEAR before his next run for re-election. It's part of an astonishing system that helps ensure almost every incumbent politician wins his or her race in Wisconsin. What regular guy or gal wants to face an entrenched incumbent capable of snapping up that much cash so far ahead of an election?

He also plays the underdog card an embarrassing number of times for someone who's won --what?-- seven straight legislative elections. Think of all the money he's raised and spent (and been paid) over all those years.

Zien's campaign, by the way, had $13,000 in the bank on June 30.

Here's hoping Kreitlow keeps blogging during the campaign. It's a great way for a candidate to communicate. (Unsolicited gratuitous advice: Let it marinate overnight before you fire it off. It's one thing for someone like me to pop off or fire an unguided missile, but something quite different for a candidate.)

1 Comments:

At 12:18 PM, Blogger James Wigderson said...

Better yet, have someone over 40 read it first.

 

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