USA -v- Ireland
This story, about a staffer on a US senate campaign who used a fake name to sign up to the opposition’s press releases, and was suspended without pay for her troubles, raises a few causes for thought.
In Ireland, someone who did that would probably be promoted in most parties (FF & SF anyway) for being a bit of a “cute hoo-er”, as the saying goes. Over here, getting one over on your opponent by being sly is considered par for the course. Getting one over on your running mate is considered equally okay in the two bigger parties.
Why are Mark Warner‘s press releases so secret that he doesn’t have them feeding openly on an RSS ticker? Why does he have a closed list for press releases? I can understand an occasional issue when it’s under embargo, but surely you have more to gain by letting your supporters and evangelists know exactly what you’re doing and saying (as Labour do here) as it happens. There isn’t a real security risk in allowing your opponents see what you’re saying 90% of the time. The only time you want to hold it off for a bit is when you’re embargoing something to hit a particular news cycle. Surely not a difficult thing to do. The technology certainly exists.
Anyway, Jim Gilmore can sack all the campaign aides he likes, but he’s not going to win that race. The last four polls all have Warner 24 points ahead, which, at this stage, is game, set and match barring a total catastrophe.
