VA-02 Press Release Battle: Rigell Loses, Winds Up Off Message
By D.J. Spiker | Thursday, April 29th, 2010 | PoliticsYesterday, almost like clockwork, Ben Loyola’s campaign team sent out an almost-sure to be ignored press release, ludicrously demanding Scott Rigell return Cash for Clunker money received at Freedom Automotive. While Loyola’s team may not understand the inner-workers of the car industry, money received was not simply cash in Rigell’s pocket, but went to pay for the massive logistical nightmare of paperwork, used car destruction, additional staff and commissions to sales people during the C4C period (speaking firsthand from my experience selling cars at Greenbrier Chrysler during that period). So the idea at the forefront is absurd, unless Ben Loyola was seeking to weaken or punish the employees working at Freedom Automotive. A stronger point would be condemning taking money and tying it into the stimulus and Obama primary donation, but I don’t work for the Loyola campaign. As I said, the press release was almost-sure to be ignored. Or so I thought…
Today Rigell’s team bafflingly responded to the press release, denouncing ‘false attacks’ and encouraging repudiation of said ‘false attacks’ by donating to the campaign. Huh?
This puzzling and bizarre response comes six weeks before the primary, where the Rigell campaign by far has stayed on message, hammering Nancy Pelosi and Glenn Nye, largely ignoring the other candidates in the race, which is Front-runner 101. To respond to Ben Loyola, a candidate who will be lucky to a) be in the race on June 8th given his precarious fiscal situation and b) if he does last six more weeks, even garner 10% of the vote is beyond head-scratching. The front-runner elevates a weaker candidate by personally responding to a off-point attack that will be read and ignored by mostly everyone? Why?!
Of course Loyola’s campaign team jumped on the chance to respond, and issued their own press release crowing over the response, and pointing out that their previous press release did not really contain false attacks. By then the damage was done, and Rigell comes out of the exchange worse off.
One person loses in this situation, and that’s Scott Rigell. After five months of on-message focus and deserved recognition for running a strong campaign as a presumed front-runner, a lame press release grabs his attention and shifts it in the complete wrong direction? This on the heels of the fiasco at RPN the other night that our commenters have been recalling for everyone. With six weeks to go, now is the worst possible time for any candidate to get off message.
There’s one debate before June 8th I’d like to see. Scott Rigell v Bert Mizusawa (i.e. the only candidate at this point left with a snowball’s chance in you know where) Any other debate/forum/Q&A/meeting holds no interest to me. But this little press release exchange plus the RPN fiasco doesn’t bode well if Scott Rigell maintains the current pace and wins the nomination. Focus is essential, exactly as Bob McDonnell laid out in all of 2009 in the strongest campaign Virginia has seen in years.
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Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right...entrenched on the right as a member of the Establishment, proudly tattooed member of the Republican Party, bartender by trade serving both sides the libations needed to continue the debate and discourse. College student, ten years late, majoring in Public Policy and Administration with an eye to serving the conservative and Republican movement in the public or private sector. ducit amor patriae You can find D.J.on facebook, Twitter, or contact via email at gosport.conservative@gmail.com. You can find D.J.on facebook, Twitter, or contact via email at gosport.conservative@gmail.com.
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26 Responses to "VA-02 Press Release Battle: Rigell Loses, Winds Up Off Message"
In stereo where available.
A coordinated, dual pronged frontal assault of friendly advice or nefarious banter launched by DJ and JR. Don’t know if fanning the flames helps. Maybe a private letter if the intent was to help not harm. I love politics.
While Nye and Rigell tear each other apart, Kenny Golden will be mopping the floor with them both. Anyone who has seen Kenny debate in person knows that it will really be something when the 3 of them are on stage. Not only that, but his seniority and commanding intellect ensures that he won’t get caught up in any of this kind of BS.
Yet another reason why Rigell should not be the nominee. Maybe after this is all done the GOP leaders will finally realize how bad they screwed up by giving Kenny the middle finger and acting like they didn’t know who he was after all the hard work he did for them.
Remember folks, its only splitting the vote if you vote for the least experienced, least adult candidate; and that could be either Glenn Nye or Scott Rigell.
So Loyola has been going negative for weeks with insane claims (Rigell “ducking” debates when he has done six of them), and Rigell simply responds in an email blast to his supporters warning them that Loyola is desperate, making desperate attacks because they are losing.
Loyola is losing, has been losing for months, can’t get any transaction, is resorting unbelievable nasty tactics and someone calls him out on that?
Why isn’t bearingdrift slamming Loyola for being, by far and away, the most negative campaign in a 6 candidate field?
Anyone that says bearingdrift.com is in the tank for Rigell must be crazy; TWO posts at the same time on this issue?
Gee Bryan, your comment “Anyone that says bearingdrift.com is in the tank for Rigell must be crazy; TWO posts at the same time on this issue?” means that maybe BD isn’t a mouthpiece for Rigell’s campaign?
Such anger and disappointment. Better to find out that Rigell can’t cut it now rather than he falls apart in the election when the going really gets rough and the cluster bombs start going off.
Tim J,
Who exactly is your candidate of choice in this race? If you think Rigell “can’t cut it” who then do you think can? You better believe that if Rigell sent out an attack on another candidate (which he hasn’t and I don’t think he will) they would respond. Would you criticize them too? I’m as sick of nasty politics as the next person but at some point you have to stand up for yourself. Rigell did that in a very positive way WITHOUT attacking Loyola back as he easily could have.
Reid… my candidate? Not Rigell. He’s proven he’s politically immature can’t cut it.
This story doesn’t make much sense to me. Not the actual article written – but the underlying substance of everything.
Isn’t Ben Loyola the same guy who paid $80,000 for lobbyists to steer him government contracts through the earmarking process – regardless of his companies qualifications? After all, if he was the most qualified company, why the need to pay someone $80,000 to steer him business?
To suggest that Rigell – without lobbying or asking or anything of the sorts – benefited from a program designed for ALL CAR DEALERS without mentioning how Loyola was only out for LOYOLA is not a balanced article at all.
While Bearing Drift may have mentioned the past lobbying in previous posts (which is extremely substantial by Washington DC standards), it should have been mentioned with this.
If Loyola wants to mention organizations that benefit from government intervention – he should mention how he had to pay for several earmarks to make it. How he had to pay professional lobbyists. And more importantly, how this is the principles he so easily speaks of.
It’s easy to send out a negative attack. But the stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy of his statements goes to show that he can not be trusted.
Coupled with blatantly stealing documents, i can not see how anyone can honestly say Loyola is not another dirty character.
DJ, are you an actual political consultant or do you just play one on this blog? I’m curious to know your credentials, other than working for Greenbrier Chrysler, to help me determine how much weight to give your opinion, which you are certainly entitled to, of course. Sometimes candidates respond to their supporters to set the record straight. If Rigell fails to respond, to what is to you as a car salesman a ridiculous charge, people might believe what they read from Loyola the Gadfly. That’s not helpful. Its a close call and I side with Rigell on this one. Educating voters about the stupidity or desparation of your opponent is never wrong, really. And my credentials as a political consultant are incomparable, by the way.
There’s one debate before June 8th I’d like to see. Scott Rigell v Bert Mizusawa (i.e. the only candidate at this point left with a snowball’s chance in you know where) Any other debate/forum/Q&A/meeting holds no interest to me. But this little press release exchange plus the RPN fiasco doesn’t bode well if Scott Rigell maintains the current pace and wins the nomination.
DJ, I’m probably one of the few not distracted by the Loyola/Rigell hosing to pay attention to your last paragraph. I would also love to see this exchange between the two front runners.
Unfortunately, the party isn’t interested in vetting or selecting the best candidate for November, and the Rigell campaign has likely muzzled him, after the disaster at the RPN. Safer to run more TV ads and keep campaign jobs intact for a few more months.
Bert is a frontrunner? Really?
Fairfax already has two Congressmen representing them. They certainly don’t need a third!
So sad to see more nonsense about this cash for clunkers mess. If I were a car dealer, I would participate. You betcha!! When the banks literally stopped lending money in 2008, it absolutely affected the car dealers, many went out of business. Scott Rigell would have been a fool not to participate in C4C. It probably saved a lot of families in his dealership their livelihoods. Scott didn’t have anything to do with that program but if he didn’t participate, every dealership in the area would have and it would have probably cost him his dealership in one of the worst times in history since the great depression for the car industry.
Now with Kenny no longer in the Republican Party, Burt is the strongest person up against Rigell when it comes to the military vote. Unfortunately, Burt does not live in our district. That will mean a lot to most voters. I know it does to me.
Kathy, I respect your position, and others who feel that current district residency is cardinal amongst criteria list of candidate qualifications.
Seems substantially easier to return Bert to ‘local’ status than it will be to upgrade Rigell to a Harvard educated financial lawyer with a Masters degree in Public Policy (from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government) and another Masters degree in Strategic Studies (from the US Army War College)/ Harvard MacArthur Fellow/ Decorated war hero/ Senior Defense official/ Experienced Capitol Hill professional, etc.
Personally, I don’t expect my senator OR congressman to live in my backyard – essential for city office or Statehouse (where 99.99% of ‘local’ issues are decided), but not a decisive attribute for Congressional candidates. I guess we’ll all find out in June if local trumps most qualified.
And again, I would love to see a substantial, issues-based exchange, between the two front-runners.
Jay D, as a Veteran myself, of course Bert is hands down more qualified to represent me. It will be a hurdle for Bert to win because he is not as well known, does not live in the district, (this will matter to a lot of voters), and his support has been for the most part out of the district. I admire him for his accomplishments as I do most of the other candidates. In my opinion, except for two which I will not name, four of the candidates are exceptional and I am looking forward to working hard to help whoever wins beat Glenn Nye.
I thought Scott Taylor was Rigell’s biggest opponent?
Mizusawa and Rigell are by far the front runners. Everyone else is so broke all they can do is send emails.
Can someone explain to me where/when were these six debates? I have been to several forums and other speaking opportunities, but a debate requires candidate to candidate communication. I think Rigell is afraid to do real debates. He needs to stay on his party provided script.
And the statement that only two candidates are worthy of debating is ridiculous. We have several excellent candidates. Let’s have some real debates, so that the voters can hear more than rehearsed sound bites.
I’m an independent,
Having been to both debates and forums, my statement wasn’t a criticism of the quality of the candidates, it was a reality check. Two candidates are left with any chance of winning. The other four unfortunately no longer really have any realistic chance.
And a ‘real debate’ is still going to be rehearsed sound bites.
Bert does live in the district. Hampton is part of the 2nd
Bert, his wife and his children all live in McLean. HIs children go to school there. Bert and his wife also work in the DC region. It may be fair to say Bert has a house in Hampton, but unless Bert is separated from his family, Bert’s home is in Northern Virginia.
Everyone’s screaming that Mizusawa doesn’t live in district because his wife lives somewhere else. I don’t know where Chuck Smith lives. But since he has attempted to run in two districts I’m assuming he doesn’t live in at least one of those.
Who cares? Probably just the voters. If they have a problem with him not living in this district then they won’t vote for him. I just don’t see why this is such a problem. Especially for a military man. Most of those guys/gals live in one place and have a residency and maybe their family in another. Mind you they don’t run for office but still, I consider our military members to be residents of the entire United States.
If I moved temporarily to a family members home while my spouse and children lived hundreds of miles away, does that mean my residence is where I’m staying or where I receive my mail?
Yes, this is an important district. Can anyone run in any district no matter where they live for this seat? I guess so.
I have to ask for forgiveness. It bothered me that I was told Burt did not live in the district, and was living with a family member. I did some checking and Burt does live in the district and was actually raised in the district. Please accept my apologies. To me, Burt’s residence is now a non-issue.
Of the candidates, who will listen, follow the will of the constituents, and do the best job for us? That’s the issue.
Bert is the only candidate raised in the district.
Im sure if you drive past his house in Hampton you will see him home.
I left Langley AFB using the King Street Gate this morning and passed Bert’s house, Bert wasn’t home.
Kathy Mateer, will forgive for Bert, not sure about reminding me that I am an ancient one with one foot in the grave!!!
I remember sputnik, the Cuban missile crisis and the One Eyed one Horned Flying Purple People Eater. Remember that one?
A couple on months after JFK’s demise, I also watched the Feb 9th, 1964 Ed Sullivan Show with the Beatles. Since 40% of the US population watched that show, I would assume that you watched that too. Do you remember that?? That was the start of a new era, at least for me.
Party like its 1773
Yes James, I was there too and remember it all. Hey, the alternative to not remembering isn’t so good and is pretty final. I guess we are blessed to still be around to remember huh?
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