the current curiosity candidate soldiers on

Mississippi’s Democratic nominee for governor gets the front page (albeit under the fold) treatement in the New York Times

The party that was once the alpha and omega of Southern politics is now having to explain that its headline candidate in Mississippi was elected on the following grounds: “He was the first name on the ballot, and he was a man,” said Jacqueline Amos, the executive field director for the state Democratic Party.

With added on, previously mentioned in this blog, points on how a surplus of Democratic voters not engaged in Democratic Party politics, wrought from the days of one party rule, brought this about, and keeps bringing this about in the Southern states.

What I find interesting in this story is this…

For Mississippi Democrats, who have to pick their battles, the focus this year has been on regaining control of the state’s House of Representatives. A curiosity candidate who kept a low profile would not complicate that, but to the exasperation of some party officials, Mr. Gray has been granting interviews to most any news outlet that tracks him down, from MSNBC to RoadKing, a magazine for professional truckers.

I’m a bit flummoxed by this notion.  Maybe there’s this idea that it highlights party dysfunction as they try to coordinate messaging, but the idea that he’s taking the opportunity of a surprise primary victory to, albeit feebly, campaign… campaign in the “Ordinary shy Joe” manner… take the 15 minutes of fame and grant the 15 minutes of fame allotment to curiosity-seekers looking at every angle of the story… and that this is problematic to a political party —

It’s not like he’s Donald Trump.

And he has that obvious angle of “touring and getting to know the state”…

His twitter page should be updated more frequently, though.

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