Holcomb should use newspapers

Who is Eric Holcomb?
Don’t know?
Apparently nearly half of Indiana voters don’t know either.
And that’s a problem for Eric Holcomb.
He’s currently Indiana’s lieutenant governor, thanks to a nudge by Gov. Mike Pence to his predecessor Sue Ellspermann.
And he’s currently the Republican nominee for governor of Indiana because Mike Pence jumped ship for the dubious opportunity to be Donald Trump’s running mate.
So far, Mike Pence has been able to keep his head above water politically. But there must be many a morning he wakes up and wonders what the heck he has done by joining the Trump team.
As for Eric Holcomb, elevated out of the obscurity of a senatorial staff position for Sen. Dan Coats, he has to figure out — quickly — how to carve out a campaign identity before November.
And that’s not going to be easy.
His options are limited. The Indiana General Assembly is out of town, and Mike Pence is still governor until the end of the year.
Holcomb could propose some policy initiatives. But that would just be window dressing, and he can’t propose anything that would clash with the Pence record since his boss is running for vice president.
It’s difficult to imagine a political candidate more hemmed in than Eric Holcomb is at the moment.
So what should he do?
Our advice: Get out of Indy. Hit the road. Press the flesh. Rely upon the GOP’s overwhelming advantage when it comes to political organization.
But that’s not enough.
TV ads aren’t going to do it. Thanks to cable and the internet, there’s no way to know who’s hearing your message.
So here’s a modest suggestion: Newspapers.
Political consultants hate newspapers for two reasons: They’re not as sexy and glamorous as TV, and it’s always dangerous for politicians to put their ideas down in black and white. Those often come back to haunt you.
But wouldn’t it be refreshing, just for a change, to have a state politician reach out to voters via newspapers, spelling out in black and white what he believes, where he wants to go and why we ought to believe in him?
Are you listening, Eric Holcomb? We’ve just offered you an idea that’s a game-changer. Take us up on it, and you might become governor after all. — J.R.