{"id":3207,"date":"2008-05-09T17:20:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-09T23:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/05\/tinsley-goes-negative-as-race-turned-upside-down\/"},"modified":"2008-05-09T17:20:00","modified_gmt":"2008-05-09T23:20:00","slug":"tinsley-goes-negative-as-race-turned-upside-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/05\/tinsley-goes-negative-as-race-turned-upside-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Tinsley goes negative as race turned upside down"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Republican 2nd Congressional District candidate Ed Tinsley\u2019s<\/a> spokeswoman told me in March<\/a> that Tinsley would continue to run \u201ca positive, issue-based campaign\u201d despite heavy attacks from primary opponent Aubrey Dunn Jr.<\/a> <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

And yet on Thursday, Tinsley\u2019s campaign issued a news release in response to the National Association of Realtors\u2019 TV ad<\/a> promoting primary opponent Monty Newman<\/a> that accused Newman of having a \u201cliberal tax and spend record.\u201d The news release talked about tax and fee increases Newman supported as an elected official in Lea<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cMonty\u2019s troubling fiscal record as a career politician in Hobbs<\/st1:city> is indicative of how he will serve if elected, and New Mexico<\/st1:state> families simply cannot afford to send him to Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>,\u201d the release stated.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

More hard-hitting is the mailer Republican voters across the district are currently receiving from the Tinsley campaign that attacks Dunn.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cAubrey Dunn Jr. stands with Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>\u2019s most liberal Democrats to oppose the Patriot Act,\u201d the mailer states, while showing pictures of Nancy Pelosi<\/a>, John Kerry<\/a> and Barack Obama<\/a>. \u201c\u2026 Aubrey Dunn Jr. Leaving Americans vulnerable to terrorists. Leaving conservative Republicans without a voice in Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

You can view the inside of the mailer here<\/a> and the outside <\/span>here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Tinsley told me during an interview in February that he would not go negative. His campaign told me in March that he would not send out negative mailers like the one Dunn sent attacking Tinsley as a \u201cSanta Fe liberal.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

And yet it\u2019s happened.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Tinsley campaign spokesman Christopher Maloney told me today that there has been no shift in strategy. He said Dunn has run a negative, \u201cless-than-honest\u201d campaign from the beginning, and the Tinsley campaign is simply responding by talking about the issues.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But the mailer, in addition to focusing on the Patriot Act, also takes shots at Dunn for giving $2,300 to the presidential campaign of Bill Richardson<\/a> and for switching party affiliation, stating that those are other times he has \u201csided with liberal Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Maloney also said the Realtors were spreading false information about Newman, so Tinsley\u2019s campaign felt it was important to tell the truth about Newman\u2019s fiscal record. He said the Tinsley campaign won\u2019t resort to personal attacks because \u201cthat\u2019s not what wins elections.\u201d He said the campaign plans to contrast the candidates\u2019 stances on the issues until the June 3 primary.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re running an issues-based campaign just as we\u2019ll continue to do. This is not about personal attacks,\u201d Maloney said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The reality<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\n

\n

There\u2019s a fine line between disagreeing on issues and negative attacking. Though the news release about Newman might not have crossed the threshold, the mailer about Dunn certainly did. With all due respect, campaign contributions and party affiliation aren\u2019t policy issues. Neither is whether someone sided with liberal Democrats. Talking about why Dunn\u2019s stance on the Patriot Act is wrong would be an issue-based discussion.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The reality is that Tinsley has gone negative after saying he would not. Why? My guess is that the race hasn\u2019t gone as he planned.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Tinsley\u2019s strategy depended on a big win in Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>. Then C. Earl Greer<\/a> of T or C, who has significant support in Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>, jumped into the race. So did Greg Sowards<\/a> of Las Cruces<\/st1:city>, who put $325,000 into his own campaign and has flooded Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> with billboards and radio ads.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Dunn, meanwhile, had a strategy that didn\u2019t include winning big in Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename> or Lea<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>, which is Newman\u2019s base. So having Greer and Sowards in the race actually gave a boost to Dunn by making Tinsley\u2019s road more difficult.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Then the Realtors put almost $600,000 into promoting Newman. Putting that kind of money into effective mailers and TV ads draws support away from all other candidates.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Tinsley was once considered by most to be the frontrunner in a race that\u2019s now completely unpredictable. I\u2019m not sure there is a frontrunner any more. It appears that the Tinsley campaign isn\u2019t sure, either.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Republican 2nd Congressional District candidate Ed Tinsley\u2019s spokeswoman told me in March that Tinsley would continue to run \u201ca positive, issue-based campaign\u201d despite heavy attacks from primary opponent Aubrey Dunn Jr. And yet on Thursday, Tinsley\u2019s campaign issued a news release in response to the National Association of Realtors\u2019 TV ad promoting primary opponent Monty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3207\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}