Political Processes & Rhetoric – Page 76 – Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

The Negative News About Positive Political Ads

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:October 27, 2010
Post category:Political Processes & Rhetoric Speakers at Marquette

Near the end of Tuesday’s “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” session at the Law School, Gousha asked Mike Tate, chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, and Reince Priebus, chair of the Wisconsin Republican Party, whether they thought candidates can win while running positive campaigns.

Neither directly answered the question from Gousha, the Law School’s Distinguished Fellow in Law and Public Policy. But Tate came closer. You have to have to draw contrasts with your opponent, he said. And when one campaign launches an ad that is arguably negative, “it’s an arms race,” Tate said. If you don’t respond, you risk losing. Voters remember negative ads, Tate said.

Priebus responded by criticizing Democratic campaigns for playing what he called “small ball” this fall, focusing on minor matters that they could use to attack Republicans instead of on major issues, like jobs, the economy, and the growth of government spending.

What neither said to Gousha’s question was, yes, you can win by staying positive.

Best of the Blogs: One Lump or Two?

Post author:Edward A. Fallone
Post published:October 25, 2010
Post category:Business Regulation Constitutional Interpretation Federalism Health Care Political Processes & Rhetoric

November 2 is fast approaching, and the nation is awaiting the election results to see whether the Tea Party Movement will be revealed to be a force in American politics or an over-hyped media sensation. This week’s “Best of the Blogs” feature provides everything a political junkie needs to learn more about the Tea Party Movement.

The obvious starting point might be Butch Cassidy’s (or Paul Newman’s) famous question, “Who are those guys?” Amy Gardner at the Washington Post tries to answer that question here (hat tip to Steven Easley). Despite her best efforts, a definitive picture of the Movement remains elusive:

[A] new Washington Post canvass of hundreds of local tea party groups reveals a different sort of organization, one that is not so much a movement as a disparate band of vaguely connected gatherings that do surprisingly little to engage in the political process.

Heck and Esenberg: What’s Worse, Campaigning or Campaign Reform?

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:October 6, 2010
Post category:First Amendment Political Processes & Rhetoric Wisconsin Law & Legal System

For Jay Heck, the disease needs a cure. For Rick Esenberg, it’s doubtful there is a disease and, even if there is, the cure is worse.

If Tuesday’s “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” program at Eckstein Hall had been a meeting of foreign diplomats, the statement afterward would have described the session as “cordial but frank.” Two of the most prominent Wisconsin voices in the debate about whether to and how to regulate money spent on political campaigning presented their views with wit and warmth, but with no masking their widely different positions.

Heck, executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin, said elections in Wisconsin and nationally had devolved over the last several decades and regulation of election spending was a matter of restoring confidence in the political system.

Esenberg, a professor at Marquette University Law School and an attorney involved in a case currently challenging regulatory plans in Wisconsin, did not accept that the damage being done by current levels of spending was so serious. Limiting free speech related to elections presents, among many things, a constitutional problem and is a bad idea that often has unintended negative consequences.