ST. GEORGE, Utah — It stands on six acres, majestically 175 feet high, white against a bright blue Utah sky: the St. George Utah Temple, dedicated in 1877.
It was a work of religious necessity and love by Mormon pioneers including Republican Party presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s great-great grandfather, Miles Romney (July 13, 1806 — May 3, 1877), who was superintendent of the construction on the temple, Utah’s first LDS temple. All that focus, intense concentration and time put in years ago built a visual “branding” for the city of St. George that will endure for years.
The Republican Party of 2012 now faces a similar prospect in its own branding — but not in the way you think.
No, I’m not referring to the heavy talk show host influence on the party’s tone and substance, or the power inroads made by party activists and Tea Party movement members against the Republican Party’s professional political establishment. I’m not even talking about severe imagery problems Republicans face among Latinos, African-Americans and non-Baby Boomer generations of women.
Today, across the country, Republicans seem to be working overtime to underwrite lawyers to either keep voters away from the polls who they feel might not vote for them or to control ballot listings that could siphon votes away from their Presidential nominee. Yes, there are GOP political spinner defensive talking points on this but, kiddies, when you look at the pattern, they just don’t convince.
In Virginia, ex-Republican Congressman Virgil Goode, Jr. has now qualified to be on the ballot. The state Republican Party is contending some signatures used to get him on the ballot are fraudulent — and they vow to get him off it. He’ll run as Presidential candidate for the conservative Constitution Party, with a boost from the Independent Green Party for championing spending more money on passenger rail. A Public Policy Polling poll suggests Goode could garner 5 to 9 percent of the vote, which could swing the state to Barack Obama.
The GOP’s problem: independent voters like being offered more choices. It’s an extremely sore point for some of them the way America’s political system is rigged to squelch third parties. Also: Goode is not some Joe Shmo, but someone who has been on Virginia’s political scene for 24 years. If the state Republican Party gets him off the ballot it’ll be a big story, and Republicans’ imagery will be hurt.
Meanwhile, Nevada has had a “None of the above” voting option on its ballot since 1976. But this year, for some strange reason — as a recent poll shows the state now at 49 percent Obama and 47.9 percent Mitt Romney — a Republican judge appointed by George Bush assigned himself to hear a legal challenge from the Republican National Committee to get it off the ballot and tried to nix it. Why didn’t the RNC go to court in 2004 when Bush was running for re-election?
The Associated Press: “A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco blocked the injunction… and had strong words for U.S. District Judge Robert Jones, who last month declared the voting option unconstitutional and struck it from the ballot.” The bottom line: this imagery will not help Romney and the GOP.
Why? Because it’s coupled with other imagery from GOP-written voter ID and access law controversies in some 10 states including Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, South Carolina and Texas. The current context matters. Romney desperately needed the Republican convention to flesh out his identity and likeability, but it instead branded itself the “You Didn’t Build That Empty Chair” convention. He got little or a negative bounce. The Democrats’ convention focused on reconstituting its winning coalition and wooing independents. Obama got a good bounce.
If Republicans’ legal measures to control how votes are cast and who can vote succeed, it will impact their imagery “branding.” Even if Republicans fail, the image of a frantically GOP trying to plug holes in a political sieve will be a blow to its branding edifice. One thing can be said to the GOP about their new image: “You did build it.”
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Copyright 2012 Joe Gandelman, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.
Joe Gandelman is a veteran journalist who wrote for newspapers overseas and in the United States. He has appeared on cable news show political panels and is Editor-in-Chief of The Moderate Voice, an Internet hub for independents, centrists and moderates. CNN’s John Avlon named him as one of the top 25 Centrists Columnists and Commentators. He can be reached at jgandelman@themoderatevoice.com and can be booked to speak at your event at www.mavenproductions.com.
This column has been edited by the author. Representations of fact and opinions are solely those of the author.
It plays both ways sir. ‘the GOP doesn’t want people voting who may vote for the Dems’ On the other hand the Dems WANT illegals voting because they KNOW they vote for the them, now it makes more sense
Which laws are the Democrats passing that would allow illegals to vote?
Justifying the corruption of the election process because of a boogie-man is a slap in the face of democracy and American Ideals.
Do you really think people who are here illegally are stupid enough to show up at the polls and risk their discovery? If they were that dumb they would be supporting Romney anyways.
gouko787 You lose that arguement. Colorado has found 35 of those checked so far, who did vote who were not legally allowed. And Democrats don’t have to pass a law to let illegal aliens vote. Just don’t control the border, and for God’s sake, don’t let anyone challenge their right to vote (basic human right in DNC policies). While at it, to check who some of those 47% are, you might check website: http://www.wthr.com/story/17798210/tax-loophole-cost-billions. Moochers not only game the system, but actually take from it. IRS Director was on television stating “they knew of this, but could do nothing about it”. Guess who had control of House,Senate,Oval Office when this happened?
how about giving everyone the right to vote. What are the republicans afraid of?
If you were paying attention, it is REPUBLICANS all over the country who are trying to give people LESS time to vote, and if you saw the elected official in Pennsylvania saying. . .”voter ID will make sure Romney wins Pennsylvania. . .
done.” Saw it with my own eyes. The elected officlal was a republican.
For heaven sakes, what is wrong with every legal voter having a picture ID and presenting it to vote? In Colorado, that could be a drivers license or a Colorado State ID Card, or some other form of photo ID. Other countries do this. Also, in order to fly on an airline, cash a check, get medical services at Kaiser Permanente, open some store charge accounts, etc, etc, etc. you have to have a photo ID!!! When has those services become more important than our right to vote? Some people have said that the elderly would have a problem with this. I don’t see where that should be a problem. Any elderly person who is collecting Social Security had to provide a birth certificate at some point. My mom did not have a birth certificate; she had to contact the state she was born in and get a copy in order to collect Social Security. Prior to that the only record of her birth was the Family Bible. This same birth certificate can be used to get a photo ID. If this is inconvenient for some elderly, perhaps the state can come up with a way for them to get a photo ID rather than at the same place you get a dirvers license.