Impressions on Coons
Our illustrious founder, Jason330, was at the meet and greet with Chris Coons last night, and he passes on his impressions:
Well I don’t know if Coons can beat Mike Castle, but listening to him candidly lay out his campaign’s strengths and weakness on his way to winning over an audience of Delaware4Obama grassroots activists, I
know he can give him a hell of a scare.
Here were the take aways for me:
1) This will be a tough fought campaign that will not descend into New Jersey style attack ads calling out Castle directly on his advanced age or other possible “low road” bullet points. Rather, Coons plans
to consistently point out that Mike Castle is a Republican. For Democrats that have crossed party lines to vote for Castle in the past, the message seem to be that it is okay to have voted for Mike
Castle. Mike Castle is a nice guy. But the Republican party has forced him into more and more Conservative votes. He is a nice guy, but he does not seem to have the courage to stand up to Mitch
McConnell and the horrible Republican party. Mike Castle’s recent record is clear. He works for the Republican Party in DC now – not for Delaware.
2) There is going to be a lot of help from the White House. Coons spoke with the President yesterday in the Oval office. The President and David Plouffe are very interested in this race and they think Chris Coons can win it. They do not intend to repeat the mistakes of Massachusetts and stay on the sidelines. Having the President or First Lady in Delaware will be huge.
3) Coons, while probably outspent by Castle, thinks that he can out grass roots organize the incumbent by tapping into Obama and Markell activist who are spoiling for a fight. There are a large number of Delawareans who were passionate about getting Obama elected. They are equally passionate about seeing that the President is successful. They view it as their duty to see that Delaware’s seat stays in
Democratic hands.
4) I was a little surprised by this one: Coons’ campaign manager thinks that Christine O’Donnell will ramp up her primary campaign since Biden has dropped out. The campaign is pretty sure that O’Donnell will try to tap into simmering teabag anger and will be a factor bleeding off (possibly) 10% of Castle’s support. I don’t see any signs that O’Donnell has a campaign, so I’m not optimistic about that. Besides, O’Donnell telling everyone that Castle is a liberal doesn’t really help Coons with his message that Castle is a Party Line
republican.
That’s my take on the meeting.
“They view it as their duty to see that Delaware’s seat stays in
Democratic hands.”
Uhm… that’s not exactly a recipe for passion.
Coons is going to need the Markell and Obama people believing in HIM – not just some bland cause of “Go Democrats!” He needs to personally inspire them to new heights of energy. Can he do that?
What were Coon’s stands on the issues, such as Single-Payer health-care, corporate person hood, the wars on drugs, islam and the middle class?
Coons, while probably outspent by Castle, thinks that he can out grass roots organize the incumbent by tapping into Obama and Markell activist who are spoiling for a fight.
If he wants that, firsts he’s going to have to tell us how he will fight for the issues we care about.
The real winning strategy is this: WE should run a TeaParty candidate. Someone that would really siphon Mike Castle votes. So many of the teabaggers have sworn not to vote for Castle, but the reality is that given the choice between Castle and Coons they will, once again, hold their nose and vote Castle. But, if there is an actual TeaParty candidate, they’ll vote that way, and Coons could slide into the winner’s circle.
Delacrat, the focus of the meet and great was not policy so those questions went unasked. This group was predisposed to like him, so it was more about strategy.
I’m surprise that nobody has comments on Odonnell. If what they think is accurate, that is a pretty big game changer.
“They do not intend to repeat the mistakes of Massachusetts and stay on the sidelines. Having the President or First Lady in Delaware will be huge.”
This has not worked in any election Obama has tried to play a part in. If this election is to be won, it will be won on the ground.
I don’t think O’Donnell is a factor. She is not visible. The teabaggers in this state don’t seem to be rallying behind her.
I think O’Donnell will be a factor. @DelDem She hasn’t been all that visible before either, and she still garners enough votes to make it scary for Castle – and this was BEFORE the TeaBag secession.
If Castle is relying on Sussex and Kent to help make up for the lopsided registration in NCC – then need I remind you what they think of him…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V1nmn2zRMc
Comment by Jason330 on 24 February 2010 at 9:45 am:
“Delacrat, the focus of the meet and great(sic) was not policy so those questions went unasked. This group was predisposed to like him, so it was more about strategy.”
If Coons has no policy stands, what predisposed the group to like him in the first place?
Geezer makes a good point but the Obamas could increase the energy factor and help turn out door knockers.
The WaPo article said that Coons’ strategy was to run as an outsider. How is Obama going to work into that?
Does Coons have a web site up yet? Is his policy laid out anywhere?
He is going to be at the UUFN on Willa Road tonight at 7PM for another ‘meet and greet’. I would expect that it is an opportunity for people to ask him policy questions.
The lame “Mike Castle is a nice guy and the big bad GOP made him do it” attitude from Coons is about what I figured out of him. Coons sounds like he is all over the place.
O’Donnell took a huge hit in Sussex when it came out that she’s living off of campaign contributions, she won’t take a job so she can continue to live off of campaign contributions, and she managed to repay her boyfriend for “out of pocket expenses” but she still owed $25,000 to various businesses that she used during the campaign.
Gaffney and Colley on WGMD stuck a fork in her. She’s done.
The alternative to”it was the big bad GOP” Is to call the ticket spliters fools and dupes. The fact is that people hate congressional Republicans right now. Coons is going to use that.
… wonder if contraception is an “out of pocket expense.”
Oops, sorry – she’s a virgin, right?
… wonder if contraception is an “out of pocket expense.”
Well you aren’t supposed to keep it in your wallet. The pocket is better.
why am i comment blocked?
So I guess there’s a good reason my comment was taken down?
That’s fine, I’ll just repost it.
I was saying that the only winning strategy in this race is for US to run a TeaParty candidate. Many of the teabaggers have sworn never to vote for Castle again, but if it comes down to voting between Castle and Coons, they will once again sell out and vote for Mike. Now, if we can arrange for a TeaParty candidate to run, then that person could actually siphon off those angry votes, and Coons could slide into the seat. That’s the only way we can win this race.
i hate to say it, but A1 is on to something. a double agent candidate.
Jason- what was the vibe you got from others in attendance? As for platform, there is plenty of time to get into specifics which I am sure will take place at his public announcement.
The vibe was very enegetic and eager to get rolling. These were people who”s first taste of politcal activism was with the Obama campaign and they all feel tha Obama’s distributed model can work for Coons. Of course they don’t have Obama as the headliner, but many of them were canvasing for Obama befor he was aheadliner sothey know the score.
Did Coons electrfy them? No but he wasn’t out to. There was electricity to spare without Coons having to deliver a tub thumper. He simply made his case and when I left they were setting up sub meetings andphone trees.
Nancy writes “He is going to be at the UUFN on Willa Road tonight at 7PM for another ‘meet and greet’. I would expect that it is an opportunity for people to ask him policy questions.”
That is ‘sort of true.’ He will be at the UUFN (www.uufn.org) tonight, at 7pm. However, he is there to discuss Green Buildings, along with a green builder and a green architect (David Pack and Joe Healy–see the flyer at http://www.uufn.org/temp/GreenMattersFlyer.pdf).
As such, while there is an overall Q&A period, these questions should stick to the subject of Green Buildings.
Afterwards, there should be about 30 minutes of networking time (we call it Opportunities for Action). You will be able to mix with the speakers, and also speak with people/firms involved in green buildings. While you can ask Chris policy questions unrelated to Green Buildings, that is not the purpose of the evening.
By the way–our Green Matters forum is free and open to the public, the next three Wednesday nights, from 7-9pm.
Great work Paul–that is encouraging to know people are eager to get rolling. The key to success will no doubt be the grassroots effort…his campaign would be wise to really engage on this front!
If Coons is going to win, he will need much more than the Obama/Biden factor. Many are already turned off to them and their lack of leadership on issues that affect Delaware. Chris will have to be tutored in foreign policy and on domestic issues. If he doesnt know the issues, he will be eaten alive by Castle. He will be viewed by many of Castles former supporters as inexperienced. The problem with democrats is simple. They all run to DC to get their talking points which are not always compatible with issues here in Delaware. Foreign policy will be his downfall but he could excel on taking on the environmental issues, standing tall on health care and jobs, jobs jobs. We know Castle has no plans for job growth nor will Castle address the real environmental problems IN Delaware. Castle will be weak on health care as he doesnt support health care reform of any kind.
Oh, my bad. A friend asked me if I was going to be there tonight but didn’t give details. If it is anything like the Markell-O’Mara presentation, no one even got to ask a question. The questions were all on three by fives and handed up the aisle. Not one question from anyone I spoke with in the audience was asked.
So I don’t have any high hopes for getting anything substantive out of Coons tonight after all. Prolly won’t go. Better to spend the time looking for his campaign web site policy pages.
If I were Micheal’s strategist, I would use some of my money to insist that Christine run against me.
I would be entering the final weeks on the strength of a primary win. It matters not that anyone realizes I ran against some party leftovers in sky blue shirts; all they will see will be the News Journal heading: “Mike Castle wins”… There will be no mention of Coons winning, since he will not have an opponent.
Having Mike defend himself against a tea-baggin’-up Christine would be perfect. It is too good of an opportunity to not be utilized. Someone is going to buy her way in….
“I don’t think O’Donnell is a factor. She is not visible. The teabaggers in this state don’t seem to be rallying behind her.”
That’s because most of the ralliers want to teabag her.
Wrong, on both counts. She has been to an hundred meetings of all types abs the tea party folks love her. Thr only place that dhe is not visible is the Journal.
Nancy writes “If it is anything like the Markell-O’Mara presentation, no one even got to ask a question. The questions were all on three by fives and handed up the aisle. Not one question from anyone I spoke with in the audience was asked.”
I was out of town when Governor Markell and DNREC Secretary O’Mara were at the Green Matters forum at UUFN.
I was the moderator last night, for Coons/Pack/Healy. I thought it went quite well (no surprise there). We still use the 3×5 card (recycled paper in this case 🙂 approach. We had about 40 minutes of such moderated Q&A. Periodically I did combine two or three questions from the audience into a single question posed of the panelists. I posed every question submitted except for 3. Those 3 were late entries, and generally were posed of a single panelist (often Coons).
When the Q&A completed, we had up to 30 minutes of Opportunities for Action. I encouraged those who had submitted questions which were not posed to take the panelist in question aside and ask their question directly.
Again, my impression is that the attendees were very satisfied with the evening’s event.
note that there is a coons2010.com, which appears to be identical to http://www.chriscoons.com
no policy positions are yet on the site.