Easy Sunday: "Out, damned spot! Out, I say!"

"The past is never dead. It isn't even past."
          William Faulkner

I don't blame Brad Hicks for trying to erase a history of Republican partisanship.

I am not surprised that a candidate with a million dollars of Republican money would try to sell: "Look! I'm a non-partisan guy! Really!"

I tuned into the Oregon Ducks-Boise State football game yesterday. It was a squeaker. Alas, Oregon did not look like a national championship team. Maybe they will improve.

The first ad I saw right at the kickoff was one for Brad Hicks, the candidate for Oregon state Senate in my district, a light blue district that includes Medford and Ashland, Oregon. I see his ads everywhere, all the time. He is awash in Republican money, so it he can easily afford them at a big Duck game, where ads are dominated by mass marketers like KFC, Coke, Subway, and the like. 

Hicks has two problems. The first is Trump.

Trump has nationalized politics down to the state and local level. Trump moved a space facility from Colorado to Alabama out of pique that state courts in Colorado prosecuted and convicted a county clerk for tampering with voting machines on his behalf. Trump also campaigned to defeat Indiana state senators who didn't buckle to his demand to gerrymander the state. Trump has made local offices about him.  A vote for Hicks is an affirmation of Trump, and his threat to our elections.

The second problem is that Brad Hicks is stuck with the past and current behavior of the organization he led. Hicks' ads claim he is a nonpartisan, work-across-the-aisle, not-a-party-rubber-stamp, kind of guy. He is using massive amounts of Republican money to broadcast that message. His problem is the financial record. That spot won't wash out: Oregon Secretary of State record. Then, go to "Campaign Finance Transactions," and enter 5067 for the Filer/Committee ID.

It is hard to sell an implausible lie, even with a lot of money, and especially when there is documentary evidence to the contrary. The Chamber was not nonpartisan. I do not blame Hicks, the Chamber, and its PAC for being relentless Republican partisans. It is their right. They are who they are. Fortunately, campaign finances are public records so we can see the reality behind the marketing.

KFC, to its credit, does not try to sell hot and spicy extra crispy chicken wings as diet food. Its ads show people finding the wings delicious. They promote what they are, not what they are not. KFC could try to argue that crispy chicken wings are a heart-healthy, low-calorie protein and "just like a green salad!" But it isn't true, and they know better than to try.

Can Hicks persuade voters to buy what he is selling? Possibly. A lot depends on whether there is a competent and well funded Democratic campaign to reveal the Chamber record of relentless partisanship under Hicks' leadership.

[FYI: Each bone-in wing has about 170 calories.  KFC extra crispy chicken is not "diet food." But you knew that.]

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