September 23, 2014 at 5:27 p.m.
Answers could create a horserace
Editorial
John Gregg is a nice guy. He might even be an excellent governor.
But if he’s ever going to get the chance, he’s going to have to mount a better campaign than he did the last time.
Gregg, a former Speaker of the Indiana House and former president of Vincennes University, was in Jay County last week to urge the party faithful to do all they could for local candidates in November.
He was also, obviously, setting the stage for a re-match against Mike Pence for the governor’s job.
That makes sense. Name-recognition is part of the game.
But it’s only one part.
And last time around, John Gregg seemed to run for the state’s top job on name recognition — and moustache recognition, if there is such a thing — and little else.
The corny and tedious TV commercials stressing Gregg’s small-town roots were so bad they were easily parodied by the end of the campaign. They managed to tell voters he knew the guys at his neighborhood coffee shop, but they failed to tell the voters what sort of governor he might be.
In fact, the Gregg campaign failed because it didn’t answer one essential question: Why does John Gregg want to be governor?
Not a question to be answered in platitudes, but one that deserves to be answered in specifics.
And the failure to answer that question was particularly frustrating because Mike Pence and John Gregg have such fundamentally different views when it comes to the role of state government. Voters couldn’t have been presented with a more dramatic choice.
But while Mike Pence succeeded in spelling out his view, John Gregg never shared his vision with the voters.
Next time around, assuming Gregg does indeed run, it should be simpler.
It’s easier to define a candidacy when faced with an incumbent’s record. And as governor, Mike Pence has presented any challenger with plenty of targets.
Still, it comes down to this: Why does John Gregg want to be governor? And how would a Gregg administration differ from a Pence administration?
Answer those questions, and there might just be a horserace next time around. — J.R.
But if he’s ever going to get the chance, he’s going to have to mount a better campaign than he did the last time.
Gregg, a former Speaker of the Indiana House and former president of Vincennes University, was in Jay County last week to urge the party faithful to do all they could for local candidates in November.
He was also, obviously, setting the stage for a re-match against Mike Pence for the governor’s job.
That makes sense. Name-recognition is part of the game.
But it’s only one part.
And last time around, John Gregg seemed to run for the state’s top job on name recognition — and moustache recognition, if there is such a thing — and little else.
The corny and tedious TV commercials stressing Gregg’s small-town roots were so bad they were easily parodied by the end of the campaign. They managed to tell voters he knew the guys at his neighborhood coffee shop, but they failed to tell the voters what sort of governor he might be.
In fact, the Gregg campaign failed because it didn’t answer one essential question: Why does John Gregg want to be governor?
Not a question to be answered in platitudes, but one that deserves to be answered in specifics.
And the failure to answer that question was particularly frustrating because Mike Pence and John Gregg have such fundamentally different views when it comes to the role of state government. Voters couldn’t have been presented with a more dramatic choice.
But while Mike Pence succeeded in spelling out his view, John Gregg never shared his vision with the voters.
Next time around, assuming Gregg does indeed run, it should be simpler.
It’s easier to define a candidacy when faced with an incumbent’s record. And as governor, Mike Pence has presented any challenger with plenty of targets.
Still, it comes down to this: Why does John Gregg want to be governor? And how would a Gregg administration differ from a Pence administration?
Answer those questions, and there might just be a horserace next time around. — J.R.
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