PR Snowball

Yesterday, the Democrat and Chronicle covered Randy Kuhl's Brighton Meeting. Today, they used that story as a peg for an editorial predicting a change in Kuhl's position come September.

Exile over at Rochesterturning asks an interesting question: Why Kuhl, instead of Jim Walsh (NY-25) or Tom Reynolds (NY-26)? Those other congressmen have records similar to Kuhl's on Iraq, yet they are avoiding the spotlight, while Kuhl is having stories and editorials written about his war stance. The answer is simple: Walsh and Reynolds carefully manage their availability to constituents. Kuhl does not.

Let's take a look at the last story published about Jim Walsh. Walsh is shown addressing a developers' meeting in Syracuse, informing the crowd about different federal funding initiatives. How about Tom Reynolds? The last thing I can find on him is a press release highlighting his appearance with breast cancer surviors at Roswell Park helping to publicize the importance of early screening.

While Walsh and Reynolds are addressing carefully controlled audiences on yawner topics like pork and mammograms, Kuhl is taking questions from gatherings full of angry constituents and anti-war protesters. Since the war -- not development or cancer -- is front-page news, Kuhl's efforts yield negative stories and editorials in the local paper. Walsh and Reynolds dodge the PR bullet by changing the subject and avoiding contact with unmanaged audiences. Kuhl's meeting afford him no such luxury.

Even the most ardent Kuhl opponent must concede that he's putting a lot more effort into meeting constituents than his peers, and he's getting more bad PR because of it.

Comments

This attention is the result of "wacko peaceniks" in bloody sheets putting the pressure on Randy and the press. It is ironic that his use of his incumbency to reach us constituents at home -- a good thing really -- is biting him in the butt.

I agree. It's telling that the more experienced MOCs (of both parties, as far as I can tell) manage their availability much more closely than Kuhl. They probably were burned, like Kuhl, earlier in their careers, and now only appear in more controlled environments.

On "wacko peaceniks": I could devote a couple of posts on how their absolutism makes them completely irrelevant.

Reynolds was burned of course by the rent-a-kid fiasco last year. I'm sure that makes him less than anxious to get back in front of a town hall.

I think Walsh most likely performs very badly in front of a live audience, given his temper and arrogance.

Kuhl fares pretty well in these things. He's not that well-prepared but he is even tempered.

What's funny about Reynolds is that rent-a-kid was his own press conference. Even his managed events blow up in his face.