Would Jason Kander going to Alabama to campaign for Doug Jones be helpful or harmful to Jones?

[nkpolitics1212]

Kander was the Democratic nominee for the 2016 Missouri US Senate Election against Republican incumbent Roy Blunt. Kander lost by a 2.8 percent margin while Trump won Missouri by a 18.6 percent margin.

[Raster]

1. I like Jason Kander...

....I see him as an up-and-comer for the Dems. Anyone putting in the effort to campaign for Doug Jones is alright in my book! Moore is a theofascist.

[LonePirate]

2. Kander could only help Jones. He should campaign for him if he can.

[democrank]

3. Kander would be an excellent choice.

He's bold, straightforward, and won't allow himself to be pushed around.

Loved his ad....where he was blindfolded.

[brooklynite]

4. Jason Kander would have no influence on the Alabama Senate race...

...because he’s not from Alabama. Nobody would know who he was.

[democrank]

5. He's not from Vermont, but he certainly got my attention.

They'll know him after he speaks for five minutes. He's focused, bold and courageous....a fresh voice in the Democratic Party, and a voice worth listening to.

[brooklynite]

9. You are a participant on a political blog...

...the average voter is not.

(nb - I've met Jason several times from the 2016 election; he's a great force FOR Democratic activism, but that won't play strongly in Alabama.

[karynnj]

7. I wonder if any endorsement by a Democratic politician has much weight in the general election

(the same with Republican endorsements for the Republican.) One would expect, given how polarized each party is, that the norm is every politician supports his/her team. The most they might do is give the nominee a little more attention on the news and if lucky get some positive coverage.

It is only when many of one party support the nominee of the others or definitively that people even notice .... and we saw in 2016 that it did not seem to have a significant effect on the voters.

[Onyrleft]

6. He really seems like a bright guy

even if they don't know who he is there, he should have some sway over reasonable voters.

[crazycatlady]

8. I think the best strategy for national Dems

Is not to rally, but to quietly raise money for Doug Jones.

[sarah FAILIN]

10. We could use more than that.

Specifically I think we need people calling the republicans to see if any of them will come over. Yes, we need to have door to door canvassers too, but I do not know how we will get it done. There are so few active dems that actually go to meetings

[crazycatlady]

11. Targeted phone banks would work-- I currently manage one right now

Typically some of the national groups will buy into a predictive dialer and have people nationwide call into it to call voters in the district/state. I'm sure some are already planning to do so after the November elections elsewhere. If my inbox is correct, Democracy for America will step up.

THe one problem I can see (please correct me if I am wrong) is that many progressives (including myself) are fast talking 'Yankees' (to me that term means a baseball player) and would fit in like a fish out of water in Alabama. (I've never been to Alabama, but I was born and raised in NY, and throughout my 9 state political career I've been called a Yankee and told I talk too fast). I wonder if that has the potential to backfire.

[sarah FAILIN]

14. Just talk slower and say "ya'll"

Yes, it is a potential problem, but I do not know how else we are going to get the calls made and we need to get calls made to republicans and dems alike. Right now the calls are supposedly focused on known dem voters which I feel is a mistake.
We have dem voters and I know we are going to get cross over votes from people ashamed of Moore, but we don't have a lot of dem volunteers in rural areas. I get excited in 20 show up to our local meeting.

[crazycatlady]

18. ITs early on in the general election cycle

KNown Dems is where to start (and they're the likely people that turn into volunteers and donors).

As far as the national groups. Right now most are focused on the elections in November, but look for help after then.

[sarah FAILIN]

19. this election is Dec. 12

I don't feel like it's early at all, lol.

[crazycatlady]

22. He's had a batshit crazy opponent for less than a week

That said (I'm typing this as I'm managing a 9 person phone bank for local races in NJ) the national organizations are putting effort into VA and the special election in WA (control of the state senate is at stake) and will probably shift to AL after those elections.


Yes his operation officially began when he won the primary, but the election was only set in stone last week.

I may end up hopping on a dialer myself for an hour if they can stomach this northerner making calls. But I've got races in NJ to win first.

[sarah FAILIN]

24. Thank you for all you do

I honestly have no ide how this stuff works

[JustAnotherGen]

26. Me either

But we need all the help we can get in NJ flipping everything. Nothing is a slam dunk.

[haele]

21. Faking the accent won't work. Would just insult them.

Even my shot-from-working-shipyards southern Californian ear can hear at least five different variants of the Alabama accent of my in-laws, depending on whether they're north or south, or closer to Florida, Tennessee, or Mississippi.

I could fake a bit of a Tuscaloosa accent - sort of a Southern version of Eliza Doolittle at the beginning of My Fair Lady - because I hear that from my sister-in-law all the time. But I wouldn't dare attempt to "pass" as a southerner without a month or so of practice with a dialect coach.

BTW, there are two versions of stereotypical Southern accent I hear most people try to fake - one is closest a North- East Texas/Arkansas accent and the other is an exaggeration of a Appalachian patois mixed with an east Mississippi accent.

Neither of which you'd recognize as someone who actually grew up in the South.

On edit - don't see that Kandar would hurt Jones. Alabama isn't quite as isolationist from their neighbors as the Evilangelical GOP churches would like to pretend.
I would have suggested Don Siegleman, who still has somewhat of a base, but my MIL says that there's still some people out there with "brushes full of stink" just waiting to smear him some more.

What would help Jones is to bring up the implications of using the Senate to ensure that at least some of the foreign investments in Alabama actually help the state instead of only lining pockets of lobbyists and oversees executives.

Haele

[crazycatlady]

23. I can fake a southern accent

However, I sound like Kyra Sedgwick's character on The Closer. It is just too fake sounding.

[sarah FAILIN]

25. Talking slower really would help

We hear fast talkers with a different accent and it gets people confused which is the main issue. People get scared they're going to be tricked into thinking something or giving out personal info.

I never knew there were so many southern accents. We don't think we have one unless we fake it, but my husband and I both went to college with people from other areas and watered our accents down..

[JNelson6563]

28. Agreed, but here's the problem.

Right after their primary I sent $25 to Jones. I think they are using Ossoff staff or something because I immediately began getting those ridiculous, hysterical e-mails begging for more money. They hit every day. I finally unsubscribed and told them why.

That shit is out of hand.

[Alice11111]

12. Helpful. He is good. His gun routine thing impresses RWs,

though he favors gun control. I helped raise $ for his camp. He would have won, but for the last 2 weeks, the Repubs targeted him with a flood of negative ads. That's the problem; they do that right at the end of races when the polls show it's narrow, unlike the Dems who decided.to stay away, so we wouldn't stir it up.

[grantcart]

13. They should do shooting contest and a blindfolded rifle breakdown.

[kentuck]

15. He would help.

But they don't want to send Nancy down there...

[ecstatic]

16. Harmful. Quietly donate and let AL democrats handle strategy. nt

[Blue_true]

17. Helpful, a Vet from a red state. nt

[gratuitous]

20. Why not?

Hold rallies in some of the smaller towns, talk to the local media without the Fox filter, and tell the crowds about the Democratic platform. Generate some local excitement, buck up the locals who have been fighting the good fight, and demonstrate to the people of Alabama that Democrats care about them.

Guaranteed to achieve victory? No, but it's a damn sight more than what Democrats have been doing in Alabama. Let's see how it goes in a relatively small, relatively inexpensive media market.

[GaryCnf]

27. I think Kander could help

But folks are missing a major force.

Doug Jones may be an old white guy but he's an old white guy with a lot of credibility in the black community. I've talked to friends who know in Montgomery and they think he will get more like Obama-level turnout than Clinton-level turnout if he just reaches out and talks about how he had the courage to go after white hate when it was not popular to do so. He's a good person.

We can win this.