The PR War: They're Losing It

This fact dawned on me as I was driving into work today. Opponents of a photo ID are running a race against time that they are destined to lose.

For with each new headline, each news anchor on TV and radio mentioning the latest developments, each in-depth focus - this story gets bigger. Already it's been mentioned in the Green Bay, Appleton, Manitowoc, Sheboygan (finally today), Duluth-Superior, and both Madison newspapers. The beast is getting beyond their control.

These mentions make people think. These people then talk about it at the gym, on the street, at the water cooler, in lunch counters where it's overheard by other diners. Each mention makes that additional individual go through a same thought process in the back of their head and has them ask a simple question: "What's going on and is the system that broken?"

As someone who likes the public relations aspect to politics, if I were advising DPW, Governor Jim Doyle, a wholly-owned subsidiary of WEAC, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, another wholly-owned subsidiary of WEAC, and Lisa Artison; one thing never would come up - but it likely was anyway: Make this a partisan issue.

The opposite should have been emphasized.

On Tuesday, Rick Graber, head of the state Republican Party, challenged his Democratic counterpart to appear at a hearing on the matter Thursday so together they can condemn "the fact that potentially thousands of voters across Wisconsin had their legally cast ballot disenfranchised by fraud and abuse."

Linda Honold, state Democratic Party chair, said she was unsure if she would attend the meeting but added that if she did go, she would do so to oppose the bill.

"If I'm there, I'm not going to be arguing what he wants me to argue," she said.

Others, including the head of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin and the group Wisconsin Citizen Action, condemned the voter ID proposal.

Graber's press release can be seen here.

By turning it partisan it causes those on the defense trouble from the get go with every new allegation. They are the ones with the excuses, the nuanced responses, the look and feel of Kevin Bacon at the end of "Animal House" saying "All is Well" as the chaos slowly surrounds them. In the end, they are grasping for straws.

So in the end, what are opponents of photo ID left with in their corner: the unrealistic who don't see a problem with the current system (Jim Doyle), those with their heads in the clouds (the Journal Sentinel editorial board), and a bunch of conspiracy shoppers who think bigger things than Fraud happened in this election (The Neo-Communists at the Cap Times).

Captain Ed has similar thoughts and looks at the great work Sean is doing over at TAM.

Also, not all editorial boards are run by lobotomized drones as the JS, this is from today's Appleton Post-Crescent as well as today's Manitowoc Herald Times-Reporter. These papers are starting to get it.

And to add to the pressure, I ain't going anywhere. Neither is Owen, Patrick, Sean, Jib, BlogGeneral, Charlie, Mark Belling, and the rest of the BBA. I haven't even mentioned the national blogs.

Oh, believe me when I say they aren't running from this. They're running out of salvos in their arsenal. They are losing the PR War.

Cross Posted at Lakeshore Laments by Kevin.