“Well, the question is, where was the campaign for six weeks? Why weren’t they doing this from the opening bell?” – Tim Skubick
After six straight weeks of absence from the campaign trail, Disappearing Dixon briefly emerged. The campaign “reset” served a failed attempt to distract from Dixon’s dangerous, out-of-step plan to ban abortion with no exceptions for rape, incest, or health of the mother and throw doctors and nurses in jail.
On the most recent episode of ‘Off the Record,’ panelists discussed the factors at play in the DeVos sellout’s blatant dodge, and their skepticism that it will stick.
WATCH the clip here and read excerpts below.
Everyone Noticed Dixon’s Campaign “Reset,” But Didn’t Think It Would Be Enough to Overcome Her Major Fundraising Issues. Jim Kiertzner in Particular Was Not Impressed.
CRAIG MAUGER (Detroit News): […] Tudor Dixon’s campaign is hoping that this reset, starting on Tuesday with an announcement of a billion-dollar proposal to fund law enforcement, will change the campaign, change the tide. They’ve been quiet, they have not been doing public events, they don’t have money to run ads. […]
JIM KIERTZNER (WXYZ): I don’t want to be rude, but so far…
TIM SKUBICK (Host, Off the Record): You’re not impressed?
KIERTZNER: No. She did the first event over in Grand Rapids. She’s doing another one in Metro Detroit. You know what the Detroit TV media is, she might get a voiceover and a sound bite with the anchor. I doubt that they would put a reporter on it and do a much larger story, larger package report, two minutes or so. It’s still pretty small.
Questions Continue to Swirl Over Why the DeVos Sellout Hid From Michigan Voters for Six Straight Weeks.
SKUBICK: Well, the question is, where was the campaign for six weeks? Why weren’t they doing this from the opening bell? The people are asking in town.
KIERTZNER: Where’s the strategy? Right.
MAUGER: I mean, the question that has not been answered, what were you doing for the first month after the primary where you could have been doing these things? […]
Craig Mauger and Lauren Gibbons Discussed Dixon’s “Incredible Bet” to Continue Ignoring Abortion, the #1 Issue on Voters Minds Just Weeks Before Election Day.
MAUGER: […] I mean, it’s an incredible bet that they’re trying to make here that we can change the conversation. There’s a literal tidal wave of political force coming in on this abortion issue from both sides, there’s going to be millions of dollars of TV ads…
SKUBICK: 20 million.
MAUGER: […] Tudor Dixon is trying to hold these small events to change the conversation. I think eventually she’s going to have to look in the camera and directly address what she thinks about this abortion issue now. Is she standing by as she said it repeatedly? But now her line is the governor can’t do anything about this.
GIBBONS: Yeah, certainly the abortion issue is going to be the defining issue of this campaign, right. […] And, you know, ever since the summer, this is one of the biggest things on the minds of voters, regardless of where they stand. And this ballot proposal offers them an opportunity to weigh in directly. […] But this is really an opportunity to see how abortion and abortion rights questions impact the rest of the political field. We’ve got almost everything up for grabs right now here in Michigan. And that’s a major factor that all of the candidates will have to come to terms with.
Panelists Didn’t Buy Dixon’s Argument That Governors Are Powerless to Serve as the Last Line of Defense to Maintain and Protect Access to Abortion.
KIERTZNER: But I want to go back to the abortion point. And that is, you know, the old adage is, if you don’t define yourself, including on an important issue, like abortion, the other side will do it for you. And that’s what they’re doing with these ads, hammering it, hammering in it. You’re in the ad, I’m in one of these ads, and they’re defining her with that.
MAUGER: Do you think she can stand by this answer she’s giving now that the governor can’t do anything on abortion?
KIERTZNER: That doesn’t fly. Do you think?
SKUBICK: Well, the governor does have power. Every governor has used it because Right to Life legislation eventually ends up on the governor’s desk and he or she has a veto pen and can decide the issue. […] On the overall abortion issue, clearly governors do have a role in that.
