McLeod-Skinner: "I identify as a rural Democrat."
Being a rural Democrat isn't about policies. It is about tribes--the rural tribe.
 |
| McLeod-Skinner |
Fundraiser. I watched closely Jamie McLeod-Skinner in two settings. On Sunday she spoke to a group of individual donors at a fundraising party. This was a friendly crowd, but with high stakes. She needs her friends to believe she can win, and should win, and should write checks to support that win.
Stress test. On Tuesday morning she was the guest on a local AM talk radio show with a Trumpian/Fox News white male non-college tone. The host interrupted, talked over her, demanded answers, and pushed her to account for presumed weak spots in her candidacy. This was an unfriendly venue, but it was an opportunity to see if she could find common ground with likely Trump voters.
Yes, she could. The bridge between the tribes isn't so much policy as it is tribal symbols. In both settings Jamie Mcleod-Skinner had an apparent purpose--to demonstrate that Democrats--or at least she--was a natural, comfortable part of a the tribe of rural Americans.
It turns out you can be a progressive and speak the language of rural localism. She didn't sound like a Nancy Pelosi Democrat. Nor an Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Democrat. Nor Bernie nor Elizabeth Warren. She sounded rural, and it works for her here, even among urban progressives.
There are common denominators between the tribes of red and blue America which somewhat coincide with rural and urban America. Progressive Democrats are not put off by talk of agriculture, forestry, water, rural access to health care. She did not "nationalize" her campaign, with talk about Trump. Quite the opposite. She spoke of water tables in Burns. Irrigation water and dam removal in Klamath County. She spoke of problems of people who farm, ranch. She mentions her mother in central Oregon, her wife's ranching family, her having gone to Ashland High School. She mentioned her Jeep and country music. She wears pants. She cites outdoor work. She cites her war-zone civilian experience.
The talk show was the stress test. Could a progressive Democrat be plausible to a Trump voter. The radio host went right at her. She surely is a carpetbagger, recently up from California. She must be a socialist--or fascist. She must want socialism in medicine. She must be a liberal kook who favors "road diets" instead of extra lanes. She must tolerate illegal immigration. Co-workers must not like her.
McLeod-Skinner had good answers, spoken with confidence.
As City Councilperson in Santa Clara she said she protected taxpayers from giving a big subsidy to the NFL 49ers. She said she was fired from the city manager job because she blew the whistle on financial improprieties. She said the USA is a sovereign nation and should protect its borders. She said that expanding health care access is affordable if we control costs.
But the most important part of her presentation was the return to local, rural symbols. The aggressive host worked to focus on wedge issues of policy, while she kept using symbols of libertarian rural Oregon. Local control. Lumber manufacturing and selective thinning in forests. Yes on guns, but with background checks. State control on immigration enforcement. Local issues, local roots, bonds with local people.
They talked at cross purposes. He wanted to expose her as a California liberal. She wanted to present herself as a local, common sense Democrat, someone who Trump voters could talk with.
Jamie McLeod-Skinner is defining herself--half the job of the candidate..
Meanwhile, there is the second half, defining Greg Walden as the one who is out of touch, the politician who became a creature of the big money lobbyist swamp.
Objectively, this should be possible. Trump voters resent big city, big government, big special interest power, and he is an archetype member of the DC swamp. He raises money in vast quantities from the industries his committee oversees. Its the DC swamp.
On the radio show McLeod-Skinner said "as he moved up the political ladder he lost his way" and that "he has forgotten where he came from." She cites that Walden supported repeal of the ACA that provided health care access to some 80,000 of his constituents and that protected the financial viability of local hospitals. He abandoned his promise to protect people with pre-existing conditions. It is a vulnerability for Walden.
But Walden makes this hard for her. He stopped doing Town Halls or other public appearances, and instead presents himself through advertising that he can control.
The advertisements project a general impression opposite of what he did, but there are a lot of ads, and they are well produced. He is a slippery, well financed opponent, with a reputation that perpetuates his former, pre-leadership role. In the District he appears as "aw shucks, Greg," informal and earnest. It works for him and it inoculates him somewhat from being revealed as the swamp creature that McLeod-Skinner describes.
McLeod-Skinner is succeeding at half the battle--looking plausible as a progressive, rural Democratic representative. Her challenge will be showing Greg Walden isn't what he appears to be, not any more.
Yes, she could. The bridge between the tribes isn't so much policy as it is tribal symbols. In both settings Jamie Mcleod-Skinner had an apparent purpose--to demonstrate that Democrats--or at least she--was a natural, comfortable part of a the tribe of rural Americans.
It turns out you can be a progressive and speak the language of rural localism. She didn't sound like a Nancy Pelosi Democrat. Nor an Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Democrat. Nor Bernie nor Elizabeth Warren. She sounded rural, and it works for her here, even among urban progressives.
There are common denominators between the tribes of red and blue America which somewhat coincide with rural and urban America. Progressive Democrats are not put off by talk of agriculture, forestry, water, rural access to health care. She did not "nationalize" her campaign, with talk about Trump. Quite the opposite. She spoke of water tables in Burns. Irrigation water and dam removal in Klamath County. She spoke of problems of people who farm, ranch. She mentions her mother in central Oregon, her wife's ranching family, her having gone to Ashland High School. She mentioned her Jeep and country music. She wears pants. She cites outdoor work. She cites her war-zone civilian experience.
The talk show was the stress test. Could a progressive Democrat be plausible to a Trump voter. The radio host went right at her. She surely is a carpetbagger, recently up from California. She must be a socialist--or fascist. She must want socialism in medicine. She must be a liberal kook who favors "road diets" instead of extra lanes. She must tolerate illegal immigration. Co-workers must not like her.
McLeod-Skinner had good answers, spoken with confidence.
 |
| Her travel vehicle |
But the most important part of her presentation was the return to local, rural symbols. The aggressive host worked to focus on wedge issues of policy, while she kept using symbols of libertarian rural Oregon. Local control. Lumber manufacturing and selective thinning in forests. Yes on guns, but with background checks. State control on immigration enforcement. Local issues, local roots, bonds with local people.
They talked at cross purposes. He wanted to expose her as a California liberal. She wanted to present herself as a local, common sense Democrat, someone who Trump voters could talk with.
Jamie McLeod-Skinner is defining herself--half the job of the candidate..
Meanwhile, there is the second half, defining Greg Walden as the one who is out of touch, the politician who became a creature of the big money lobbyist swamp.
Objectively, this should be possible. Trump voters resent big city, big government, big special interest power, and he is an archetype member of the DC swamp. He raises money in vast quantities from the industries his committee oversees. Its the DC swamp.
On the radio show McLeod-Skinner said "as he moved up the political ladder he lost his way" and that "he has forgotten where he came from." She cites that Walden supported repeal of the ACA that provided health care access to some 80,000 of his constituents and that protected the financial viability of local hospitals. He abandoned his promise to protect people with pre-existing conditions. It is a vulnerability for Walden.
But Walden makes this hard for her. He stopped doing Town Halls or other public appearances, and instead presents himself through advertising that he can control.
 |
| More since last report. Extraordinary industry PAC support |
McLeod-Skinner is succeeding at half the battle--looking plausible as a progressive, rural Democratic representative. Her challenge will be showing Greg Walden isn't what he appears to be, not any more.
6 comments:
Hi Peter, I came away with a different POV than you. Jamie is very smooth, slick, skilled at giving non-answers to questions. As a planner she's a graduate of that snake pit of authoritarian thought known as the modern planning industry. Jamie knows just what we need in rural Jackson County, and my concern is that she would give more of it to us good and hard. There was no time to delve into matters more deeply, but anyone who doesn't view the public-private partnership as fascism concerns me greatly. I would add that many republicans believe in that Holy Grail, too. To promote Klamath Dam removal even after the clear evidence of its beneficial use of water (That the monument didn't burn)leads me to consider her as yet another agenda-based leftist who would have rural Oregon scratching for crumbs in its "Sustainable Development" future. Be Well!
I think a Democrat as savvy as her will serve the rural parts of district 2 as faithfully as any Republican, it's just that there's enormous inertia after 20+ years of the same rep. If Democrats win back the House, Walden will lose a lot of pull. I'd bet on that, ride the wave and make Oregon all blue.
Jamie McCleod Skinner can claim to be country all she wants, but her political positions are more in-line with Nancy Pelosi's than they are will rural Oregonians. There's not a lot of difference between Skinner and Pelosi (or Skinner and Pam Marsh). Besides that, Skinner supports open borders and sanctuary cities, and those are losing issues with Americans. Skinner will be lucky to get 35% of the vote against Walden.
So what do you want, six more year of the sell out Walden?
Congressional terms are for TWO years. Suck it up. Dems just fielded a lousy candidate this election. Now, Dems have two more years to look for a good candidate (there has to be one somewhere) that the majority of the district will embrace. Skinner has only lived in the district for two years. I wouldn't vote for anybody who had only lived in the district for two years. She has no skin in the game. She's a Bay Area liberal who just transplanted to Terrebonne.
She is an Oregonian who happened to live in California for awhile. There are many of us here who once lived somewhere else. Her mother lives near me, I'm from Redmond and her mom Marty lives in Terrebonne. Jamie's father-in-law served as head of the Oregon Cattlemen's Association. Curt, you really should read more and I am tired of sucking it up.
Post a Comment