Politics

Wooing Women Gets Weird for Shaheen and Brown Campaigns

Scott Brown Campaign ad.

By Roberto Scalese

September 15, 2014

3 minutes to read

You’d be forgiven if you thought Scott Brown’s latest campaign ad was a still photo from the Beatles playing at Shea Stadium. The ad shows Brown taking a photo with a supporter while a horde of screaming women clamor for a spot behind them.

The ad carries the tag line “Women For Brown.’’ The image that accompanies the ad is apparently designed to suggest their candidate’s pro-choice stance. But the message implied by the picture is that Brown is a total heartthrob. And that is, well, slightly different than being in favor of Brown’s support of women’s right to make their own decisions about their bodies. Or making the same money for the same work as men (which Brown says he supports, though he voted against the Equal Pay Act during his last tour in the Senate).

The campaign is rolling out the ad just as Brown has taken a pounding for his approach toward winning over women voters. Time Magazine noted that Brown’s idea of reaching out to women, which includes generic plaques, hasn’t hit the target. Brown trails Shaheen among female voters by a 14-point margin, according to an Aug. 21 poll.

One plaque recipient, Janice Leahy, was more confused than honored by Brown’s gesture. From Time:

Leahy, a Republican, says she was left confused and embarrassed by the whole episode. She also says she is not sure she will vote for Brown in November, given his 2012 vote against an equal pay bill, an issue close to her heart given that she works in a male-dominated industry. “I’m not happy about his vote against it and I would need to know more about it before I vote for him,’’ Leahy says. “I haven’t decided yet which way I’ll vote in November.’’

It didn’t take long for America’s favorite satirist, Stephen Colbert, to catch wind of the ’’Women for Scott Brown Hero Award.’’ Colbert roasted Brown’s plaques as a particularly tin-eared effort in the Republican Party’s general outreach effort with women voters. Go to the two-minute mark in the video below to see the Brown portion of the segment:

[fragment number=0]

The latest polls have the race neck and neck, but as of Sept. 14, fivethirtyeight.com gave Shaheen an 83 percent chance of winning the race.

So does this mean Brown’s a goner in the fall?

Not exactly. Brown may have had a bad week, but Jeanne Shaheen is losing an argument about town hall meetings to a man in a giant chicken suit. Sure, the chicken may have run afoul of the law, but he was later exonerated, and has kept on message about Shaheen’s lack of participatory meetings.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee isn’t doing Shaheen any favors, either, judging from the “attack’’ ad they ran against Brown in New Hampshire:

[fragment number=1]

The ad never shows the female Senator Jeanne Shaheen, and never mentions issues that are important to women voters. Instead, it uses a clip of a resolute and confident-looking Brown on the stump and scenes from the bucolic New Hampshire countryside while a narrator talks about his vehement opposition to increasing taxes. It’s like Brown has a mole in the DSCC video department.

Both campaigns have known all along they would face each other in the fall. And both have known that the women’s vote will be the critical factor in the election. Both think they have a record women will find appealing. But neither appear to be doing a great job.