Beto O'Rourke didn't hire Morris Pittle of Two Ton Creativity to run/help with this primary challenge to Congressman Reyes. Pittle had been there with O'Rourke in his previous races and was vital to each of them in his own special way. Now Pittle has been hired by Reyes and O'Rourke has to be a little bit worried about this development.
Friendship is a powerful motive. Money is more powerful.
In a city where money is tight in the campaign world, expecting a friend in the business to sit on the sidelines because you didn't hire him is ludicrous. O'Rourke should have known that Pittle would go to Reyes if he didn't hire him. Now O'Rourke is running against they guy who helped him get where he is - a very dangerous thing for Beto.
If I were in the situation, I would have hired Pittle to do something, anything for the campaign so that he'd be conflicted out working for my opponent. In many races around the country, primary battles are won by the guy who has the money to gobble up all the good help in town even if he doesn't need them all. Sometimes you buy weapons just so that your opponent won't get their hands on them.
O'Rourke will have to contend with a reinvention of Reyes' image done by the best guy in town. Gone will be the days of Reyes in front of backwards flags and half-assed media campaigns that look like they were put together by cave dwelling morons. O'Rourke made a mistake here and caused himself some real trouble.
Pittle is only a good choice if you're going after the narrow "hip" crowd that lives in his District. Dumb move for Reyes to leave Lopez.... even I admit that no one covers the broad Hispanic market as effectively as Lopez. I'm having visions of Reyes dressed as a burrito.
Posted by: dot | October 12, 2011 at 09:05 AM
Lopez has pretty much lost every political campaign he's done. Pittle was brilliant with Shapleigh commercials when Margo ran against Shapleigh. Reyes as a burrito is more inspiring than the lame ads he's done the last 17 years.
Posted by: political observer | October 12, 2011 at 10:44 AM
Was Pittle really brilliant? Margo was going to lose the Senate race. A majority Democratic Senate district was going to elect - GASP! - a Democrat.
Pittle is great at design, but he is not good at actually running a race, e.g. GOTV, lists.
Forma Group, on the other hand, is. Rick sure knows how to do negative mailers. Those against Norma were nothing short of brilliant.
Posted by: Oliver Ramsey | October 12, 2011 at 11:56 AM
Great - only way to win according to you is total negativity. We sure need more of that in political races. Ugliness, name calling, whisper campaigns etc. Let's just stab the opposition in the back and call someone like Forma brilliant. Sad that in El Paso we think negative mailers are the way to go to win. No wonder El Paso is backward - we love hate filled messages.
What was brilliant about Pittle's ads were they were NOT negative. Especially the one with the little kids in great big oversize chairs saying things like "what's an agenda" etc. It was great - got the attention of the voter and there wasn't a negative sentence in the commercial.
Posted by: political observer | October 12, 2011 at 12:20 PM
Welcome to Politics. Almost every and all campaign has negative attacks. Pittle did not have to be negative because Shapleigh was going to win no matter what, with or without kids in oversize chairs.
Posted by: Oliver Ramsey | October 12, 2011 at 01:03 PM
Forma did a good job with Rip vann Anne Lilley. Even with a Tax Dunce like Ness running against her i still thought Anne would lose. Forma dug up the dirt on Ness and they may find stuff on Reyes. Beto is smart and knows he needs the PAC's money just like Anne, Niland, and Naomi. Forma group takes its orders from the "People for their own Prosperity" and that's big money. I see this move as a "good" move by Beto. In the long run this race is the lessor of 2 evils anyway.
Posted by: Former Pot Smoker | October 12, 2011 at 02:43 PM
Reyes has done nothing to embarrass El Paso publicly. Politically that's another story. If Beto wins it's because El Paso wants a change. The election falls within the presidential vote so voters will be in place.This gives Beto a slight advantage. Reyes will raise more money. If Beto works his ass off, he could pull it out. Reyes can't rest on his record, he's gonna have to work too. If the marketing strategies are tinged with negativity, Beto will lose. This one is a toss up....
Posted by: Jazzo | October 14, 2011 at 09:13 AM