Washington Post Further Confirms My Reporting

By: Ambivalent Mumblings
Published On: 4/15/2008 1:12:55 PM

This is crossposted from over at my blog.

In what I think is a prime example of how the blogosphere helps to hold candidates responsible for what their campaign does, the Washington Post has published an article which reports on the story I broke earlier this month.

Some Democrats say Denneny has at times overreached in his zeal to get attention. This month, his campaign announced that he had accepted an invitation to an April 14 debate at George Mason University to be sponsored by the Fairfax County Young Democrats.

Rafael A. Arancibia Jr., co-president of the group, said that no invitation had been extended and no other campaigns consulted and that Denneny's staff popped out a news release barely a day after a Denneny organizer approached Arancibia with the idea. Arancibia also said he was led to believe that other campus groups were prepared to co-sponsor the event. But the Young Democrats was the only group mentioned in the announcement.

more below the flip

Denneny acknowledged that his campaign reached out to the group in an attempt to "inspire a debate," but he said there had been no intent to deceive.

The episode dismayed Arancibia, who called it a needless distraction at a time when the traumas of war have touched families all over Northern Virginia. He mentioned Army Spec. Patrick Hanley, the son of Commonwealth Secretary Katherine K. Hanley (D), who was seriously wounded shortly before the end of his 15-month tour.


I think Bill Turque was right on with his assessment that it was the campaign's over zealousness in trying to get attention that has resulted in so many Democrats being upset with the direction the campaign has taken. One of the main reasons why most people are upset is the fact that Doug's campaign has used what most people would consider negative tactics while trying to get attention is the fact that he has claimed multiple times that he would run a positive campaign. His campaign's tactics therefore not only result in attacks against other Democrats, but break a campaign promise in the process.

I think the way that Doug's campaign has handled the situation also provides an example of why people are a little upset with the turn of events. If the campaign had just admitted that the press release probably shouldn't have been sent out before the debate was set up, for instance, I probably wouldn't have written about it.  While the trust I had in the campaign would still have been damaged, I would have given them some credit for admitting they made a mistake.

All that being said, I'm looking forward to seeing the candidates debate. The issue was never whether or not we should have a positive and open debate, it was simply the inappropriate tactics the Denneny campaign used in an attempt to get some attention that had everyone discouraged.

Comments



Good work Brian! (Eric - 4/15/2008 2:19:21 PM)
That's a solid scoop and a good call out of the Denneny camp for, as you put it, inappropriate tactics.  

I'm sure we'll be seeing at least a debate or two from this race and I'm looking forward to the fireworks.



Make that "Bryan" (Eric - 4/15/2008 3:40:49 PM)
Sorry about that - but the rest still counts.


Everyone does that, no worries n/t (Ambivalent Mumblings - 4/15/2008 6:50:10 PM)