I thought about a blog “war room” post but that seemed contrived.  I wanted to put you, the- oh-so-devoted — and smart —- Flash reader inside the Morrow campaign in a way that was honest, interesting, and thoughtful.  I hope to give a unique insight into the “what could have been” campaign without sounding like a typical consultant with a plane to catch or whiny loser…so…like a band unsure if the audience is receptive…I’ve decided to go for it.

To humor the disclaimer police, my name is Joe Justin and I was Bill Morrow’s consultant and I take full and total responsibility for the conduct of his race (note to those back East who called Morrow friend #1 Frank Hill asking about the race…yep…I’m the guy your sources in California claimed was screwing everything up …it is true….I should be sued for malpractice.)  **authors post publishing note:  My attempt at self deprecating humor caught some the wrong way.  I don’t believe I should be sued for malpractice.  Thank you for all the kind notes. 

There. 

Wishlist, the best Pearl Jam song you’ve never heard of sums it all up.  And like Ed (as in Vedder) hopes…I wish I was a messenger and all the news was good…

I wish we would have kept our foot on the gas after the killer month and a half Bill had raising more money in Nov/Dec than anyone expected him to.

I wish the gossip hounds would have shared my understanding that increasing turnout — by sending out our own an absentee ballot application — would have only further advantaged the candidate with superior name ID (ah..that would be Bilbray).  I’m confident Dave Gilliard (Mr. Application himself) would have made the same decision I made had he been in my position…and frankly I would have mailed out two absentee applications as he did had I been in his shoes. "But it’s how John Campbell won…don’t you understanding California you bald headed twit?"  Ah… John Campbell had superior name ID, superior resources, and only 2 opponents.  Morrow had 15 opponents, Eric Roach had the money to be brilliant, and Kaloogian built his name ID using US Senate campaign money on 3 mailers into the 50th and last time I checked those there applications are expensive and in a cash strapped campaign I was willing to bet on my targetting skills to find those likely applicants

I wish Bill’s volunteer evangelical leadership would have held fast against the wave of venomous email “Reports” which maliciously savaged Bill and Barbara Morrow over phony stem cell research hyperbole and flat out distortions of a damn near perfect pro family voting record.  Bill was the one on the ballot…right?

I wish that Eric Roach would never have moved from the Bay Area to the 50th.  I wish he had attacked Bilbray one week earlier.

I wish that the owners of Datamar would have done the right thing professionally and not published their methodologically challenged poll results given their admitted knowledge that they did not rotate the list of candidates.  Regardless of subsequent quality-checked work, that admittedly flawed poll literally sucked the life out of Morrow’s fundraising 3 weeks out when it made the MSM and set the blog world a twitter.  I rarely get emotional during campaigns, but this was a real disservice to our profession and to my client.  

I wish I had about 5 Cynthia Determan’s on our team.  Hire her now Mr. Schmidt before I do.

I wish I had more money. 

I wish I had not decided to start our radio earlier then planned in order to keep pace with the pack.

I wish our ‘chemical castration” campaign, designed to have Morrow stand out among the gaggle of “me too’s” promising to get tough on illegal immigration had the resources behind it to penetrate. I think there was merit, and good timing to our message, and the turnout out at our goofy child ID/pancake breakfasts events proved it (sorry to have thought outside of the box guys)  Thank you Lois Morrow!  Thank you Frank Hill and Ross Johnson…I’ll proudly do battle with either or both of you again any time any place.  I’m not so arrogant to say I can’t learn from pros like you guys. 

I wish we would not have had to go off radio —  forever — 3 weeks out. 

I wish to thank Bill Morrow for being a great candidate.

Finally, I wish…sincerely wish Bill, Barbara, and Will Morrow a peaceful and prosperous future.

You all fought the good fight.  I’m sorry I let you down.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 14th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Uncategorized.