A conflagration of political commercials looms
The campaign air wars have begun, giving us a preview of the conflagration of commercials the fall will bring. Republican Bob Stefanowski aired his first ads in February. Gov. Ned Lamont has now aired his first wave.
Both candidates begin with a common theme. Both want to maintain the fiction that they are not politicians. Stefanowski is making his second bid for governor after losing to Lamont in 2018. The Madison Republican remained active in party politics after that defeat and will be crowned as his party’s nominee in May.
Lamont is making his fourth bid for statewide office. He lost a ferocious bid for the U.S. Senate in 2006 and was buried in a landslide Democratic primary contest by former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in their 2010 contest. Four campaigns and $50 million of his fortune spent on the first three campaigns makes a candidate a politician. It is a curious phenomenon that some people immersed in politics at the highest levels will deny they are politicians.
They are.
Both Lamont and Stefanowski ought to be better candidates than they were four years ago. Lamont has been governor for the past three eventful years and ought to be fluent in any issue he confronts. Stefanowski appears to be more conversant in public policy after blithely issuing political prescriptions to repeal the state income tax as the cure for every state ailment.
Stefanowski’s initial ad served as a reintroduction of the renovated candidate. He offered no sweeping promises, referred to making improvements in small increments, and promised a forensic audit of state government. An accountant by training, Stefanowski may be overestimating how many voters will be stirred by cries for more audits. But it is early.
The governor hails Connecticut’s resilience in his first advertisement. The state’s finances are better, taxes are lower and, the Greenwich Democrat notes, we are spending more on education, health care and public safety. Lamont warbles a lot of notes in 30 seconds.
The candidates are not the only ones who get to spend their fortunes on ads. An independent committee supporting Stefanowski launched an ad accusing Lamont of ignoring allegations of corruption in the state’s school construction financing program. Federal law enforcement officials are investigating the school construction program and the State Pier project in New London.
State Democrats responded by pointing out Stefanowski made his money working for UBS and heading a payday lender that had charged exorbitant interest rates. Stefanowski will need to explain that. Diving into the origins of the wealth often turns up disappointing conduct.
The political weather feels stormy for many candidates who
might otherwise relax. We have endured six tumultuous years. Polls do not provide the confidence they did a decade ago. Lamont knows what it is like to be a formidable favorite and watch a lead disappear.
The governor should be reassured by the cordial welcome he receives as he travels the state. He appears intent on portraying a resurgent Connecticut, confident in its future. He will try to persuade voters that his four years in office have made a difference.
Lamont and his political team must have been startled at the grim tone his fellow Democrat, Attorney General William Tong, struck in his first campaign video. Tong, seeking a second term, portrayed Connecticut as a bleak place with unrelenting troubles. “Every day is a struggle,” the Stamford Democrat intones in a voiceover as a camera records him assisting his children prepare for school.
Tong has a talent for sounding like he’s running for mayor of bleak Gotham before Batman saves it once more. After four years, Lamont wants to convince us our lives are better than they were when he took office. Tong’s tone suggests you may want to spend some time considering the risks of leaving home. The contrast between Tong’s Connecticut and Lamont’s is striking — and unusual for members of the same party running on the same ticket.
I don’t mean to add to Tong’s portrait of menace, but we have seven more months of escalating campaign ads. You may want to add a couple of commercial-free streaming services to your entertainment menu.