Mahan Reset
Needed to happen
Matt Mahan hit the reset button for his campaign today. 60 days out (or so) from the Primary.
The key quote from the piece related to a call with supporters after fundraising was falling short:
““It’s a kind of a now or never moment for this campaign,” said a person who was on the call.”
August 21 Prop 50 passed. Election was November 4. The time? 60 days.
Mahan’s campaign better do some pretty crazy things to get that kind of magic in place. It is the now or never moment as we said last week and something was missing. The candidate you cannot change; the strategic advisors you can.
Let’s see what comes next for the campaign going forward. Hopefully they do the following:
Hit Swalwell as the “Trump Democrat” because it gives Hilton the best shot to win if the two are in a run off…why else would Trump put out the FBI stuff? There is nothing there. He got an endorsement from Trump. Good messengers can get the point across.
Hit Hilton as a wasted vote because ultimately any D will win if they get on the ballot.
Tamp down the 2 R possibility- it is designed to create urgency with the D’s while they negotiate the “resignation costs” for those who will ultimately fall off but do so after early ballots are issued.
Hit on the BTA and take on Labor. Go after them. Offer to convene Silicon Valley to finance it without them. Go to the coalition and take it on.
Mahan has to thread the needle in the middle of a hurricane.
It can be done but he has to come out swinging.
No more small ball. No more generic stuff. His words are good, but now he needs to punch harder, get sharper, and be bolder.
He has a small window to do it. He needs press. He needs name recognition. He cannot do it without bigger causes. Press brings money. He needs to show he is for real. The doubts sowed in donors are apparent based on the Politico piece.
He really needs to win voters from Hilton, showing a vote for him is better than a vote for Hilton because he can win as a D, instead of Hilton who is an R. R’s will not win in California, let’s be honest.
Why take the risk of hoping to freeze out the D’s when you can have a candidate who reflects a majority of your centrist ideals in Mahan. No R will get in, and certainly it won’t be two R’s. It is BS to get 40% of the population to waste votes, by getting R’s motivated to vote for their guys while the D’s consolidate behind a single or two candidates and knock the R’s out.
“Don’t fall for it. Vote Mahan.”
There’s your line.