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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow Rick Caruso spent $104M and still lost the LA mayor's race
The strategy of swamping his opponent with advertising, tagging her as a City Hall insider and sending out a paid army to knock on doors failed to sway voters across much of Los Angeles, according to preliminary precinct totals and political analysts, who say the avalanche of ads might also have caused some voter fatigue.
It sounds facetious to say you can have too much money in politics, said Garry South, a Los Angeles political consultant who has worked for mayoral and gubernatorial campaigns, including those of former California Gov. Gray Davis. But candidates with unlimited money often engage in overkill, and I think thats partly what Rick Caruso did.
We couldnt watch TV for half an hour, he said, without seeing three Rick Caruso ads.
Caruso will now take his place in history among the list of candidates who have funded record-setting campaigns in California, only to come up short. The most recent example is Meg Whitman, the former eBay CEO and Republican who spent more than $170 million on her 2010 gubernatorial campaign against former Gov. Jerry Brown. Carusos spending per voter dwarfs Whitmans, as she competed in a statewide race.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/18/rick-caruso-lost-la-mayors-race-00069343
onecaliberal
(33,170 posts)chowder66
(9,154 posts)They spend ridiculous amounts of money then lose.
I love it every time it happens.
ZonkerHarris
(24,395 posts)uponit7771
(90,398 posts)... like rMoney got defined to people in swing states as the person who'll fire your daughter.
Then he walked into that definition with the 47% statement
Raine
(30,565 posts)with when you spend that much money for a political office you sure expect to get it all back and then some.
Just A Box Of Rain
(5,104 posts)that Caruso's campaign was able to air.
And it was a wide range involving both "positive" ads that among other things tried to build up Caruso's ties to our diverse communities and to burnish his standing as "Democrat Rick Caruso."
He also dog whistled homelessness and crime, while (mostly) avoiding looking openly racist.
And he also attacked Bass on every front.
Yet, she withstood the assault.
Looking forward to Karen being sworn in tomorrow my VP Harris.
RandySF
(60,686 posts)Just A Box Of Rain
(5,104 posts)We got those too. Brutal!