GOP candidate for governor Mike Cox is on a mission. He wants to
bleed all the money out of the Pete Hokestra campaign before the August
3rd primary.
Now you might ask, how can one candidate do that to another?
Simple: You run attacks ads which puts your opponent in a box
with two options: Sit on your money and don't purchase any ads to
counteract the attacks or spend your money now to do that. By
exercising the latter choice, you run the risk of running out of moola
the closer you get to the election when more citizens are paying
attention.
Cox knows this and so do the Hoekstra people. So far Hoekstra has
made a modest effort to mute the Cox ads that suggest the Michigan
Congressman is a big spender of your tax dollars in Washington.
Last week came the first ad and the Hoekstra camp scrambled to
assembly a tepid response that did not get a ton of exposure compared
to the bigger ad purchase made by the Cox folks.
This week a new attack ad and so far no response from the Hoekstra
camp. It's unclear if their first commercial continues to air around
the state.
The popular wisdom in town has Hoekstra struggling to convert his
grassroots support in West Michigan into checks. So he is not
overflowing with money while the Cox campaign coffers are looking
better.
The commercials are an act of "desperation" decries Hoekstra
mouthpiece John Truscott. J.T. contends Cox is losing support in the
polls and has to act now to salvage his candidacy by trying to slice
into Hoekstra's lead.
Team Hoekstra expects to take a hit as a result of these ads.
Over in the Cox shop campaign manager Stu Sandler argues the ads
"are a show of strength" not desperation.
So in all likelihood those attacks will continue and the Hoekstra
folks will have to decide to shut up or cough up. Either way it's a
roll of the dice for the Congressman and the smiles you see over there
are from Mr. Cox and company as they monitor the blood flow out of the
Hoekstra campaign.