Every once in a while, a fundraising copywriter receives a priceless gift — a story and a hook that are so good, the fundraising appeal practically writes itself.
The RPV’s copywriting staff got such a gift yesterday, as Ken Cuccinelli’s campaign manager, Dave Rexrode was on the receiving end of a phone call from the Washington Post’s polling unit. It was when the questions started rolling that the copy started flowing…straight into this fundraising appeal:
They asked some of the standard poll questions like approval of President Barack Obama, how is the national economy doing, how is the state economy doing, what is my top issue, etc.
They started asking questions about what each candidate stands for and whether or not I was satisfied with my choice of candidates, and even tossed in a 3-way ballot test question.
They asked about the sequester, if anyone in my family had been affected by it and how gun control would impact my vote.
But then, they starting asking about gifts, disclosures, and if I had been paying attention to recent news reports about this issue.
This is the point in the call where it became pretty clear what The Washington Post’s agenda was with this poll.
Over the past few months, The Washington Post has launched numerous misleading and false editorials attacking Ken Cuccinelli.
They are basically taking the Democrats talking points and turning them into editorials.
Just as they did against Bob McDonnell, George Allen, Jerry Kilgore, etc. But what questions did the WaPo pollsters not ask? That’s the fun part of the email:
I didn’t hear any questions about Terry’s failures as Chairman of Greentech.
I didn’t hear any questions about Terry’s company, Greentech, and its failure to pay property taxes that are used to fund local schools.
I didn’t hear any questions about Terry’s false claim of having created 100,000 jobs.
I didn’t hear any questions about Greentech’s parent company being incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, a tax shelter country.
I didn’t hear any questions about Terry’s refusal to release his tax returns despite The Washington Post’s repeated attacks on Mitt Romney on the exact same issue.
I didn’t hear any questions about Terry falsely blaming the Commonwealth for not bidding on his company, or Terry’s shameless attempt to deny that he did.
I didn’t hear any questions about Terry’s inability to name a single cabinet secretary.
I didn’t hear any questions about Terry grabbing fistfuls of cash from union bosses who want to see Virginia’s right-to-work laws weakened.
I didn’t hear any questions about Terry’s plan of running for Governor in Florida or New York, before settling on Virginia.
I didn’t hear any questions about Terry’s lifetime of being a Washington insider who used his political connections to enrich himself.
Of course he didn’t. But again, the poll’s slant opened the doors wide to rebuttal. And best of all, the poll results won’t appear until well after this email has circulated to all the relevant lists (I received at least four versions).
The base, then, is both prepared for and inoculated against any negative numbers. It also plants the seeds of distrust (unnecessary though they may be) toward anything the Post writes about Cuccinelli in the future. If the appeal happens to raise a few bucks, it is pure gravy.
And quite a handsome gift to the GOP and its copywriting team