Sparacino's ads hurt him.
Randy Sparacino's campaign is choking on corporate PAC money.
Jeff Golden should welcome every mailer and TV ad Sparacino runs.
One cannot spend a million dollars of other people's money in a media market this small and not look like a tool of the people paying the bills.
I offer advice to Sparacino.
I expect to vote for Democratic State Senator Jeff Golden, not Republican Sparacino. I voted for Sparacino for Medford mayor, but I am disappointed in his campaign for state senate. He is playing footsie with the election-denying wing of his party. I also think abortion should remain available in Oregon and if Republicans get a majority they are pledged to outlaw it.
I freely give advice to Sparacino's campaign anyway. They won't believe me and won't change, so it is harmless. Here is the advice: Stop. Stop taking $100,000 dollars a week from PACs to spend on your advertising. Your ads are sinking your campaign. They have the wrong message.
The intended message of Sparacino's ads is that Jeff Golden is a terrible, disgusting Democratic bad guy, and that Sparacino is the alternative. They follow the pattern of all attack ads, with ugly black and white photos of the opponent and creepy music.
The ads attempt to drive up the negatives on Golden. What's the problem? The problem is that the ad avalanche turns Sparacino into yet another standard-issue angry Republican attacking a Democrat. This role appeals to partisan Republicans, but it is a minority taste, especially in a senate district with a 12-point Democratic lean. Golden is helped when voters in a district like this see a Republican attack on a Democrat by out-of-area PACS. Democrats don't need to run ads warning voters that Sparacino is a partisan foot-soldier on the GOP/Donald Trump team. Sparacino is doing it for them.
The incident of Fox News and GOP pretending outrage over Golden's supposed racism signaled that Sparacino's teammates and funders were looking for dirt, even if they had to create it. Sparacino can claim it was done for him, not by him. It doesn't help, not in the face of a drumbeat of negative ads where we watch more of the same being done on his behalf. The ad overkill sends a message of Sparacino dependence. He is being sponsored, and he belongs to them.
Since Sparacino's ads have a hard partisan edge, they motivate Democrats. The ads turn off people of all persuasions who dislike nasty partisanship. The vote going to independent Betsy Johnson's campaign for governor shows there are a lot of people who appreciate feisty independence. Sparacino's ads work in the opposite direction. They diminish Sparacino. They confirm him as passenger on a luxurious Republican steamroller, a bad image in most districts, including this one. If you begin to forget or doubt that this is Sparacino's role, another ad will soon remind you.
Sparacino’s ads have a losing message, and his own campaign is paying to spread it. Golden should rejoice every time another ad appears.