Endgame

As the Massachusetts senate race is drawing to a close, I am examining the closing strategy of the Elizabeth Warren campaign as she attempts to break away in this tight race. While much of Warren's campaign rhetoric remains the same due to her continued focus on protecting the middle class, Warren has made an interesting and seemingly effective tactical move in her campaign. The campaign has released a new add shifting the focus of the senate race to a national level, arguing that Scott Brown could be the senator needed to provide the Republicans with a senate majority. The add continues saying that this could lead to continued tax cuts for the wealthy or possibly the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Warren uses this national strategy to stir up her liberal base capitalizing off of their fear and anxieties. This campaign move seems to be working as Warren's lead in the polls is growing, gaining a 5.7 point lead in the polls as of October 26th according to Real Clear Politics.

The Warren campaign also released another ad called "Momentum", claiming that the momentum of the campaign was leaning in her favor. Much of the add tries to focus on Warren's personal connection with her supporters, showing her at various campaign events interacting with everyday people. The ad drives home her platform of helping working families, but makes a distinction between herself and her opponent, claiming that Scott Brown's vision for America is to let the rich get richer as the rest of America falls behind.

On her campaign blog, Warren also tries to draw attention to the attack ads about her released by Brown supporters and Karl Rove's robocalls in order to establish Scott Brown's campaign as out of touch, driven by a few extremely wealthy and powerful supporters, whereas her campaign is all about her supporters and middle class, hard working families.

Massachusetts Senate Debate

      I watched the second debate of the Massachusetts senatorial race between Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren. While much of the beginning of the debate was mostly focused on extraneous issues like Elizabeth Warren's native American heritage or the argument regarding which candidate represented who when they  were both lawyers, the debate eventually shifted to actual political issues. The debate was close throughout, but it seemed as if Elizabeth Warren more effectively able to appeal to likely voters. Despite Brown's consistent efforts to display his bipartisanship, citing that he is the second most bipartisan senator based on his record, Warren was able to dispel his attempt at portraying himself as an independent by claiming that Brown's rhetoric is very different once he leaves Massachusetts. Warren argued that Brown signed an agreement with other Republicans that if he indeed won the Massachusetts Senate seat, that he would work to oppose Barack Obama's agenda. While Brown made some sound arguments and continued to try to appeal to a generally democratic Massachusetts, Warren seemed to have the edge, sticking to her guns as the defender of the middle class who will stick up to the special interest groups and big banks unlike Scott Brown.

      The media after the debate generally concluded that it was a draw, as most who attended the debate came out believing that the candidate they supported going in won. In general I agree with this conclusion, however I do believe that in the context of the race as a whole, considering the left-leaning Massachusetts population, Warren's rhetoric and persona give her the W in this debate.

Political Artifacts

I am looking at the campaign of democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren and two of her campaign artifacts. The first artifact is from Elizabeth Warren's campaign blog regarding her appearance at a human rights campaign dinner. In the blog post, Warren is established as a candidate who will fight for gay rights, saying "Elizabeth would be more than just another vote for marriage equality and a fully inclusive employment non-discrimination law. She will help lead the charge, to be an LGBT ally not just some of the time, but all of the time". This attempts to portray Warren as a defender of civil liberties and rights for all.

The second artifact is Warren's campaign video, entitled "No One". In this ad, Warren continues to portray herself as the champion of the middle class. The video shows Warren fighting against large banks and cites her work in consumer protection. This campaign ad falls very much in line with the rest of the rhetoric of Warren's campaign, as she, above all, wants to establish her image as being on the side of the little guy.

Both of these artifacts are attempts by Warren to target the generally democratic population of Massachusetts, hitting her main talking points of equality and fairness.

Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown at Party Conventions

Scott Brown at the RNC:

       Scott Brown really played no part in the Republican National Convention, even being criticized by several conservative leaders, including Herman Cain who called Brown a "RINO" or a "Republican in name only". While Brown doesn't want to look bad within his own party, he also didn't want to be one of the leaders at the RNC. Being a Republican Senator in Massachusetts, a feat in itself, Brown doesn't want to sacrifice his reelection by being to spokesman for the conservative platform running in a generally liberal state.

Elizabeth Warren at the DNC:

      Elizabeth Warren was in the exact opposite position as Scott Brown heading into the Democratic National Convention. Warren was one of the major speakers at the DNC, having been an adviser to President Obama. Warren, whose platform is virtually one in the same with the Democratic Party's platform as a whole, talked about her experience growing up in a working class family and later becoming a teacher, strengthening her already strong connection with the middle class. Warren is trying to establish herself as the protector of the middle class, focusing on its growth in size and spending power. Warren, like the rest of the Democratic Party, is running on the idea that the only was to fix the economy is to increase government spending to create public sector jobs in order to get people back to work. This type of stimulus would theoretically increase the overall size and buying power of the middle class, leading to an increase in consumerism which would stimulate the economy.

Elizabeth Warren's General Election TV Ad

    Elizabeth Warren's recent TV ad yet again focuses her message on the middle class, but in her argument, Warren makes use of logical fallacies in typical political behavior in order to make her rhetoric more effective. In her criticism of Washington, she claims that it is run by major corporations, and while there might be some truth to that, Warren takes advantage of a couple logical fallacies. Warren appeals to the general population by criticizing Washington insiders and lobbyists of major corporations, which has become a very popular criticism in the spectrum of political rhetoric recently, by either party. Warren aims this attack directly at her opponent, Scott Brown, associating him with the Washington culture she has described. Warren proceeds to cite some general information about Brown's voting history and the status of Massachusetts without providing all of the sufficient information regarding the issues. Warren also oversimplifies her message by implying that this race is simply a battle between Scott Brown and billionaire Washington insiders versus Warren and the middle class. While her overall message may be accurate, she takes advantage of a few logical fallacies, making her ad, for our purposes, rhetorically irresponsible. That being said, this ad is by no means worse than any typical campaign ad.

Elizabeth Warren's Speech at the JFK Library

      On July 17, in the middle of the anticlimactic Massachussets Democratic primary, Elizabeth Warren delivered a speech at the JFK Library discussing how she successfully headed the effort to pass legislation establishing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It seems fitting that Warren begins her speech at the John F. Kennedy Presidential library by connecting her legislation to the late Senator Ted Kennedy. Kennedy, who tragically perished in August 2009 after being diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, was viewed as a major figure and spokesman for American progressivism. Relating her message to the late Ted Kennedy's message allows her to establish a connection with Massachusetts democrats who supported Kennedy and build up her credibility as a progressive politician trying to protect middle class families. Warren goes on in her speech to discuss her optimistic views of the political system, citing that she was told her ideas regarding protecting consumers from misleading contracts made by credit card companies or banks were good, but that she should not pursue them because she could not make a difference. Warren offers a hopeful message that despite a hard push by major lobbyist groups, she was able to pass legislation that helped average Americans.

     Warren's message has remained relatively the same from the primary to the general election, trying to run a sort of grassroots campaign whose sole focus is protecting and expanding the middle-class.

Meet the Candidates: Massachusetts Senatorial Race

Scott Brown:

       Scott Brown(Republican) is the current senator of Massachusetts who shocked the political spectrum with his rise from obscurity in the special election for senator after the death of Senator Edward Kennedy. He is seeking his first full term in office running as a "moderate" candidate.  Brown showed his support for abortion rights after the "legitimate rape" gaffe by Senator Todd Akin of Missouri, calling for him to drop out of the Missouri state senate race. Scott Brown has also shown some support for gay rights, criticizing Chick-fil-a President Dan T. Cathy for his anti-gay stance, yet he still supports the ability of states to decide whether or not to allow gay marriage. While Scott Brown is more moderate about social issues, he is a typical fiscal conservative who opposes the bill to recoup bailout money from major banks.

Elizabeth Warren:

       The incumbent in the Massachusetts senate race is Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren. Warren was an official in the Obama administration who was courted by the Washington establishment to challenge Scott Brown. She also was critical of Todd Akin's comments also urging him to drop out of the race. Warren is running a grass roots campaign to dispel the elitist image the Republican party has tried to create.