Archive for October 3rd, 2012
(UPDATED) New Mainers United ‘Yes on 1’ Clip: Jeanette & Paul Rediker
“Jeanette and Paul Rediker of Fort Fairfield, Maine – married for 42 years – talk about what marriage marriage means to their family and why they’re voting “Yes” on Question 1.”
From Mainers United’s 10/4/12 press release:
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Mainers United for Marriage today launched a new statewide TV ad featuring Paul and Jeanette Rediker from Fort Fairfield.
“Our campaign will continue to tell the real stories of Maine families and why marriage matters to them,” said Matt McTighe, campaign manager for Mainers United for Marriage. “We know that the opponents of the freedom to marry plan a media blitz built on misinformation and funded by shadowy out-of-state groups that are suing the state of Maine. We believe the best answer to their attacks is to have families talk about marriage.”
The 30-second ad tells the story of the Rediker family as they found out that their oldest daughter is a lesbian and the advice that they received from the family’s priest.
“We weren’t always so gay friendly,” Paul says in the ad, after talking about being married to Jeanette for 42 years. “We didn’t even grow up in an era when it was discussed.”
“We had just found out that our daughter was gay,”
Jeanette says. “There was a lot of emotions. We went to see a priest, and I will never forget the answer he told me: ‘She is the same person that you loved yesterday.’”“We love our daughter,”
Paul says.“I would be very happy if my oldest daughter could get married at home,” Jeanette says.
The ad, which is the third from Mainers United for Marriage, will air in the Portland, Bangor and Presque Isle media markets.
The ad can be viewed at: http://www.mainersunited.org/ads.
Despite Large Ad Buy Against GOP’s Summers, DSCC Still Refuses to Endorse Any ME Senate Candidate
Enjoy this picture, folks- if Secretary of State Summers has his way, there will be few opportunities for Maine to see the leading Senate candidates together before the election, let along listen to them, as he has already skipped multiple debates.
Normally, one would think that skipping public appearances and debates would be damaging to a candidate’s chances of winning. Additionally, one would think that huge ad buys by one’s party’s national opponents would hurt.
But then we have the strange case of Patty Murray, who by her tight-lipped failure to endorse either Democratic US Senate candidate Cynthia Dill or front runner Independent candidate Angus King, has bettered Charlie Summers’ chances of winning in November far more than Summers himself has.
Yesterday afternoon Murray, during a phone conference call regarding the previous night’s Massachusetts senate candidate televised debate, had very little to say about the Maine Senate race, despite the fact that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has made a $400k plus ad buy here, all attacking GOP candidate and current Secretary of State Charlie Summers. The ads started airing locally yesterday and will continue to air for ten days.
Her complete statement? “We have not endorsed in that race.”
And by not saying anything further, Murray and the DSCC may well be helping Charlie Summers.
Via The Daily Caller:
“King is the far stronger liberal candidate — Dill has yet to raise enough money to be able to run ads on television — but it would be difficult for the Democratic campaign arm to endorse another candidate over their own party’s nominee. So national Democrats — and the DSCC in particular — have mostly stayed silent in the race, declining to endorse Dill or throw any funding her way, in a tacit nod of support for King.”This posture by Murray has been disappointingly consistent with what the DSCC was saying back before the Democratic primary was even decided. As a reminder, back in March Murray said that “Maine was a great opportunity” for Democrats.
From June:
While Murray and others outside of Maine have been scuffing their toes in the sand and being coy regarding which candidate the support in this increasingly important Senate race, various local voices have spoken up in recent days, as Portland Press Herald’s Greg Kesich (“An early exit by Dill would shake up U.S. Senate race”) and “Democrats for King” (a closed Facebook page created weeks before the June primary) organizer Alan Caron (“With a spoiler in U.S. Senate race, it’s all about the numbers”) called for Democratic nominee State Senator Cynthia Dill to step down.
Maine Democratic Party chairman Ben Grant took issue with that demand (“Asking Dill to step aside assumes King is lying about his true intentions”) and offered his own op-ed, as did 2010 Democratic gubernatorial candidate and former Maine Senate president Libby Mitchell (“Urging Dill to drop out ignores values she represents”).
At some point, the DSCC should have either “fished or cut bait”. It is now so late in this race that any move they make will appear (accurately) to be not an endorsement at all and completely politically motivated.
Even with the $400k throw at Maine, they are being horribly outspent by the NRSC, whose ads are softening up the race for Summers. Frankly, the NRSC should be thanking Murray at this point.
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The National Republican Senatorial Committee and other outside groups have spent $1.5 million boosting Summers, and recent polling in the race shows that it’s having an effect, as the well-known former governor’s once commanding lead has shrunk over Summers, who is running in second.
“It’s remarkable to see national Democrats now spending money in a state where they refuse to even endorse their own nominee,” NRSC Executive Director Rob Jesmer said in a statement.
The focus of the DSCC spot will say a lot about the posture Democrats intend to adopt in the coming weeks. The launch of the buy is also an implicit acknowledgement that Summers is gaining in the polls.
Maybe Murray should have flipped a coin. This post will be updated when the DSCC video is made public.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )(UPDATED) ‘Marriage for All Families’ Releases First of 4 Part Series Supporting Marriage Equality: ‘Stories from Maine’
“The first of a four-part series made in each of the states that have marriage equality votes this November, this short shares the experiences of same-sex couples who want to get married in Maine.”
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UPDATE:
From the site comes this description of the 4 state project and its goals, as well as an endorsement from Bruce Springsteen (h/t Scott Wooledge for the accompanying graphic, which has quickly gone viral):
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Marriage For All Families captures the real experience of same-sex couples, to show that they have the same challenges, responsibilities, and aspirations as other couples. Still, they are strangers in the eyes of the law. That’s why marriage equality is so important: it aligns personality reality with legal reality, as a simple matter of fairness and equality.
Here is The Boss’ original 2009 marriage equality endorsement (h/t Joe.My.God):
A BRIEF STATEMENT FROM BRUCE
Like many of you who live in New Jersey, I’ve been following the progress of the marriage-equality legislation currently being considered in Trenton. I’ve long believed in and have always spoken out for the rights of same sex couples and fully agree with Governor Corzine when he writes that, “The marriage-equality issue should be recognized for what it truly is — a civil rights issue that must be approved to assure that every citizen is treated equally under the law.” I couldn’t agree more with that statement and urge those who support equal treatment for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to let their voices be heard now.
It should be noted that although a marriage equality bill passed through the New Jersey legislature easily earlier this year, Tea Party darling Gov. Christie vetoed it.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )(ICYMI) Mainers United Ad: “The Lawsons”- Why Marriage Matters
This is a great ad originally released in late August; my apologies for the oversight of not sharing it much sooner.
From the video’s accompanying text: Pat and Dan Lawson of Monroe talk about what marriage means to them and why they want the gay and lesbian people in their life to have the freedom to marry.
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