This was such a good post, it deserved it’s own place.
Alan
Bear with me, I am not one to post regularly and I appreciate Y’all Politics for providing the forum, but this time I honestly felt compelled to weigh in on the topic of Davis, his campaign and the way ahead.
BTW, he is lucky to get a second chance, and be able to correct his mistakes. I can think of a bunch of loosing candidates that would love to have that second chance to get it right, myself included.
Past candidates like Andy Taggart, Hayes Dent, Dunn Lampton and myself never had it so good, doing a whistle stop tour the day before the election with the GOP Gov, Lt Gov and Jr. Senator and Thad doing radio for you, absolutely never seen a candidate with so much opportunity…
CDavidS and Alan make some very good points on what Davis needs to do, I live, work and am active in Oxford and I am here to tell you, many, many folks voted AGAINST Greg Davis.
It had little to do with the GOP nationally or here, President Bush, Senator McCain, Gas Prices or the War in Iraq. Although, those factors may have contributed to some folks…
Glen Mc’s support and healing would not have helped at least not much. So get off his back, the man was absolutely wronged by Davis and actually Glen owes him a sock in the eye. Glen Mc is as good of a Republican as I know and I have been tilling in the GOP Vineyard for over 20 years. Enough of that, headlights on and taillights off…
The way I see Greg coming out of this in November is to do what a LEADER does,
1. Accept this defeat take full responsibility for it (don’t blame his campaign folks, advisors, the party or NRCC etc.).
2. Admit he was wrong for the negative campaigning against Glen and Childers, apologize for it and assure the public especially GOP voters he won’t do it again. And don’t blame it on his campaign etc. just say he knows better and regrets it and it will never happen again.
3. Tell these same people from here on out it is “Only Positive Mississippi Spoken Here” and then share with them the great job he has done in Southaven and as a member of the Legislature. Share your vision and talk issues.
4. He should fire his campaign folks and get some Mississippians in there that have won MS campaigns and admit he was wrong to not be inclusive with the local or state party faithful, he can’t win with out us…
5. Hire an image consultant or ask somebody’s opinion, b/c he does not come across professionally looking what so ever. He can start with combing his hair over to the side for one and loose the hair gel. I don’t want to get mean or personal but it is true that Childers even with his mustache comes across more professionally than Davis does.
6. The positive thing is that Greg is a smart guy with some great experience and could make him a good Member of Congress, so he needs to quit reading from the RNC queue cards and start speaking from his heart and head. Listen to the question and answer them in his own words.
These are all things that Greg Davis himself can fix if he has the courage and can swallow his ego to do it.
Recap,
– Do Publicly Apologize for loosing and going negative.
– Be Positive in everything, message, commercials etc.
– Do hire new campaign staff, consultants, and media folks
– Make yourself appear more professional i.e. Congressional
– Be inclusive and appreciative of the local GOP
– Speak from your heart and look folks right in the eye when you do it, and do more listening than you do talking.
Thank you for allowing me to share, and I hope I didn’t offend too many folks, but this is how I see it from the middle of the 1st Congressional District.
v/r
Geoffrey Yoste
OxMs
yoste@rebels.com
