Pryce camp criticizes Kilroy over ex-Clinton official’s help

[geiger]

From the Columbus Dispatch
Thursday, August 17, 2006

To me, this report makes it sound like the Pryce camp is getting worried:

President Clinton’s former press secretary came to Columbus yesterday to talk up Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy’s chances of ousting seven-term Rep. Deborah Pryce, R-Upper Arlington.

No sooner did Joe Lockhart conclude his optimistic assessment than Pryce’s campaign attempted to turn his appearance against Kilroy, noting that Lockhart’s public-relations firm has represented a pharmaceutical company that favors the Medicare Part D program, which Kilroy opposes....

If you look at the best public relations firms, they have to recruit professionals and serve clients on "both" sides. Just because someone in Lockhart's firm may represent someone in a particular industry doesn't mean he has anything to do with it. This is how the public relations industry works and survives.

I think the Pryce camp has been taken off guard that Kilroy has attracted the high-powered support from the many corners that she has, esp national, bringing the race into the national spotlight (Kilroy astutely maneuvered that, not Pryce). Also to couch Lockhart's support as "ex-Clinton official help," as if somehow that "Clinton factor" is a bad thing, is insidious and cynical, but also stupid--doesn't Bush now have the worst approval ratings of any President ever, and isn't Clinton now the one who has to come to his rescue? If Kilroy is Clintonesque, that should be a good thing, now shouldn't it.

Maybe it's the Pryce camp that needs a new public relations firm....

[OhioBlue]

1. I agree.

the Pryce camp seems out of touch. Clinton isn't the boogie man. He is a past President that is tied to an administration during peace and prosperity. Contrast that to the shrub... lol... do they really think they can win points with that sound byte????

The other night I was in a bar, handed out Sherrod Brown OSU football schedules to a group of guys... one was a former poli sci major at BW - the conversation turned political... he said he thought DeWine would win... whatever... anyway... a guy at the table started in on the fact that Clinton got a BJ... he asked me what I thought... I said.. uh.. he's a man that cheated on his wife?... did it effect you? and how many Presidents do you think might have done it? (4 guys all right wing) One answers with.. "probably all of them" the other, the Poli Sci, self professed ultimate Republican says to the ditto head, "I'm a die hard Republican, but give me Bill Clinton over George Bush any day. Bush is an embarassment... he can't even speak intelligently.... I know we would be in a better place in the Mid-East if Clinton was President...."

[geiger]

2. I agree, too, that the anti-Clinton mantra is starting to ring hollow