Monday, September 21, 2009
News Borders opens field offices; Norwood incommunicado
Posted by Scott Henry @ScottTheHenry on Mon, Sep 21, 2009 at 5:32 PM
With about six weeks to go in the mayor's race, City Council President Lisa Borders has announced that her campaign has opened two satellite offices: one in the Studioplex loft complex in the Old Fourth Ward, the other on MLK Drive across the street from the Atlanta University Center.
The signal from the choice of both locations is that she's focused on central Atlanta, but the second site, in particular, is clearly intended to indicate Borders' concern for public safety on the AUC campus, which had been questioned recently.
But — and here's the real point behind my posting — the Borders e-mail got me to thinking: Scarcely a day goes by when I don't get some kind of press release, however trivial, from the Borders or Kasim Reed campaign. Yesterday, the Reed folks sent out an invitation to a fundraising luncheon next week.
By contrast, I rarely ever hear a peep out of Mary Norwood's campaign. I just did an e-mail search and came up with four messages over the past five weeks. And I'm not the only one; an AJC reporter who covers intown politics tells me he can't remember the last e-mail he's gotten from Norwood's folks.
About two months ago, in late July, I was shocked when Norwood told me she was still looking for a campaign manager — months after her opponents had hired full campaign staffs. Hell, by then, Borders had already cycled through one manager and hired her replacement. I assume Norwood finally found someone to manage her campaign, but I have yet to hear from him/her.
Usually, the best funded, best-run campaign has the edge in a political race. Norwood was the first candidate to raise $1 million but, as of the last disclosure period, had slipped to third place in terms of fundraising.
According to polls, Norwood is still the front-runner, but unless she ramps up her fundraising (we'll find out early next month) and her campaign gets its collective butt in gear, I don't see how she can maintain that lead.
Comments (13)
Showing 1-13 of 13
Norwood is running the ultimate stealth campaign. She doesn't want anyone to know she, or anyone else, is running. The lower the turnout on Election Day, the better she does. It's actually a pretty savvy campaign tactic. Municipalities use this tactic all the time when the have referendums. They touch the voters that need to be touched and try to fly under the radar for everybody else not to cause a stir. Whether it works or not remains to be seen, but it's been working so far.
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my call? borders over norwood in a runoff. which would be a shame, because reed seems to be the only candidate in the top 3 who is capable of running the city well.
The gears of the Vote-O-Meter are humming, buzzing and whirring. The Vote-O-Meter is now saying that if the mayoral election were held today, the votes would be Mary Norwood 39%; Lisa Borders – 31%; Kasim Reed – 25%; Jesse Spikes – 3%, Kyle Keyser – 2%; Peter Brownlowe – 0%. Norwood’s lead is ebbing and she is below 40% for the first time; her “say nothing” strategy is becoming a losing strategy. Borders is making moves and pulling people from Norwood and Reed. Reed is losing ground and is in danger. Spikes is at a complete standstill and is out of the race. Keyser is attracting those who are unhappy with the leading candidates and might make a difference. Brownlowe does not show up on any charts.
What is the Vote-o-Meter, and why should I care about it? Is this another one of Towery's polling doo-hickeys? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
"her campaign gets it's collective butt in gear"... Really??!! REALLY!!!??? You mean the campaign that has been first place in every poll that his been done in the past year? The campaign that has raised the most money to date? The campaign that spent the least and has the most cash on hand? THAT'S the campaign that YOU think needs to "get in gear"????? Your bias is laughable.
"You mean the campaign that has been first place in every poll that his been done in the past year? The campaign that has raised the most money to date? The campaign that spent the least and has the most cash on hand? THAT’S the campaign that YOU think needs to “get in gear”????? Your bias is laughable." Those statements are only true if you forget Lisa Borders topped the polls until she dropped out last fall, to care for her parents, not raising any funds for 6 months, and only re-entering in April. Lisa's standings in the polls and fund raising show the real momentum.
Mary has not had to be as aggressive in her communication outreach, because she will get a substantial percentage of the white vote, irrespective of what she does or doesn't do. And, I agree with S. DeKalb voter that a low profile, low turn out election works significantly to her advantage. However, she should ramp up her communication systems now because there will be a run-off, and she will need the extra muscle then.
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