Scott Sipprelle is our best chance to replace the most liberal member of congress, Rush Holt. Scott is bright, articulate and personable. He is determined, competitive and calculating. He can be very funny, in a very dry way.
But he's not ready to face Rush Holt in a competitive campaign, yet. Because he is so bright, competitive and determined, I am extremely hopeful that he will quickly grow into the candidate that will beat Holt. But he is not there yet. Never having endured a campaign before, he would have benefited from the competition of a tough primary.
After meeting with Scott for an hour, my level of respect for him and my affinity for him rose tremendously.
Prior to our meeting our relationship was somewhat contentious. Not in an overtly nasty way. More in a sarcastic, sparring way.
I enjoyed our sparring. We continued to spar early in the interview, but it was much friendlier. I expected Scott to be extremely well prepared. He was.
Because I believe Scott will easily win the primary next week and because I believe he has what it takes to beat Rush Holt, I did not conduct this interview as if it was an evaluation tool for the job. Rather, I conducted it with the hope that Scott would be better at the job as a result of our meeting.
As you will see should you view parts 2 and 3 of the interview (linked on the side bar), Scott is extremely well versed on the economy. Should he be elected he has the potential to be a significant national leader in the necessary quest to right our national ship.
However he must get there first.
As you will also see if you view parts 2 and 3 of the interview carefully, Scott should not position himself as an accomplished "Wall Street reformer" in the general election. He should stop talking about the part he played in the management change of Morgan Stanley as if that made a difference in the lives of the average voter and as if it is a reason they should send him to Washington. It is too easy to poke holes in that position. Should he continue to sell himself as someone who already has operated as a reformer on Wall Street he will spend too much time and money defending himself against what the "guys in black hats" will be hitting him with come October.
He should position himself as one of the good guys who did a great job for his clients. He should position himself as an expert who knows what it will take to reform Wall Street in such a way that it will fuel our economic recovery and bring jobs and prosperity into the lives of the people he wants to vote for him. That is a subtle but important difference. It is a forward looking temporal difference, rather than a backward looking assertion that will be difficult, if not impossible to sell in the face of the "black hat" onslaught.
Scott should take four words out of his trail mix. Morgan, Stanley, Jon and Corzine.
Tying Rush Holt to Jon Corzine is a losing strategy. Just as tying Chris Christie to George W. Bush was a losing strategy for Corzine. Enough said.
The words he should emphasize are Pelosi, ObamaCare, Jobs, Prosperity, Recovery, Growth, Cap and Trade, Pelosi, Jobs, Prosperity, Liberty, Jobs,Prosperity and Liberty.
Scott is aware of his biggest weakness, his ability to connect with voters on an emotional level and capture their attention. We talk about this in part four.
This will be Scott's biggest personal challenge. By nature he is reserved. By admission he is eclectic. Eclectic doesn't get elected.
Scott says he is courageous enough to tell the truth. But is he courageous enough to share himself, not just his ideas, in a way that voters will respond to and relate to? Is he courageous enough to "let it hang out?" Time will tell. If he is, he wins.
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15 comments:
Art,
Extremely insightful commentary.
You are right on target.
Very smart and straight to the point.
You know, I wasn't going to vote for this guy. But after seeing this, I have changed my mind. Wow. He's got it right, and he is nice about it. I want someone smart with a cool head whose got the funds to smack Holt upside the head. And not a professional politician either. GOOOO SIPPRELLE!!!!!! And thanks, Art.
Art, I was particularly fascinated by this installment #2. You succeeded in peeling off some of his obvious protective layer to help us understand what's inside, a significant journalist coup. I thought your advice to "let it hang out" was also on point and necessary. I am feeling some excitement about this race again.
Scott is not a conservative until Justified Right declares it to be so.
Tell Scott to answer my questions.
I posed them in writing.
How badly do you want to beat Holt, Justified Right? Or is it just "all about you"?
Justifed Right is having delusions of grandeur
It's most certainly all about me.
What difference does it make beating Holt if Scott's postions are the same?
Not saying they are, just saying Scott won't say.
Justified Right makes a great point. While claiming not to be a politician, Scott Sipprelle plays all of the politician games. He won't answer questions he doesn't like, he avoids those that can't help him, and he wants to be a Republican while clearly behaving as if he is not.
He won't answer social issue questions, he gave to a bunch of Democrats (remember that?) and he apparantly inflates his role in the Morgan Stanley thing to the point that if he were in, say, the military, he might not have actually been to Vietnam.
Typical politician.
Tommy is right. He is not a conservative. Which is fine, just don't pretend to be.
The question is then also for you. How badly do YOU want to beat Holt?
Tommy has rocks in his head.
On 90 % of the issues scott is conservative.
It takes a smart politician to beat a guy like Holt
Where do I find the 90% of the issues upon which Scott is a conservative (assuming we all define conservatism the same) and on what 10% is he a liberal?
Source please.
I need a source since his campaign promised me in writing (!) they would answer my questions, and then did not.
Come on Tommy he has spoken about his positions all over the place.
Your just too lazy to do the research and are trying just trying to draw traffic to your own blog.
Nice plublicity stunt.
What does it matter at this point? Have you sent your questions to Rush Holt? Do you think his answers would be conservative enough for you? Please, enough with this divisive nonsense! Do you want Sipprelle to beat Holt or don't you?? Keep your eye on the ball!
Well written piece.
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