Anthony Guerrero
The Paw Print
For all the political ads we saw this election year, and all the sound bytes, speeches, attacks on patriotism and character, there is one thing we did not see. That was a negative ad on an opponent from our Governor-Elect John Hickenlooper. Governor-Elect Hickenlooper won the trust of the voters of Colorado overwhelmingly, and he did it by remaining decent and running one of the cleanest campaigns in Colorado history. When I reference Hickenlooper’s campaign, I am speaking directly of any ads that came from his money and staff, in case there may be any confusion about any rare negative ads that were run by political action committees. But even those that came from political action committees were a rare sight when in support of John Hickenlooper.
Hickenlooper is now a leader in the example that our political discourse need not be nasty and rude to be effective and to gain voter’s trust and approval. Some believe that perhaps Governor-Elect Hickenlooper was only dealt a lucky hand because his two opponents, Dan Maes, and Tom Tancredo are widely viewed as extremists. Actually, removing Dan Maes would have made the election a lot tighter. I still believe that the positive campaign run by Hickenlooper would have been just as effective.
Think about it for a moment. During a campaign season we cannot turn on the television or open a newspaper without being bombarded by ads from political candidates, their campaigns, and special interest groups. They usually do nothing more than attack their opponents, question their intentions, say how miserably they may have failed, how they lack patriotism and character, and how we cannot afford to allow them to be re-elected. This soon only becomes a nuisance to most voters. Sometimes a campaign can become so negative, citizens decide not to become involved in the political process, or waste their vote for unviable third party candidates, who are not wasting money and resources on attacking others.
This is all in stark contrast to the campaign run by John Hickenlooper. Citizens of the state of Colorado did see John on television or received emails from him, but his message was always about what he would do to help Colorado. He presented his ideas for improving the economy, stated the positive accomplishments and experiences he had as a business owner and mayor of Denver, Colorado. This approach obviously paid back high dividends.
The point is, when given the choice, Colorado voters seemed to unite behind the person with the cleanest campaign in the governor’s race. This is also quite a different scenario than in the Senate race, where two highly negative campaigns, extremely divided the State of Colorado, where Senator Bennet barely won re-election by only about 7,000 votes. I believe if one of the candidates had been as positive as John Hickenlooper, voters would have responded just as well to that candidate as they did in the governor’s race.
It is enlightening to see that solutions and experience can triumph over negativism and division. We need more leaders to be as brave and insightful as Governor-Elect Hickenlooper. It is a rare occasion where we elect someone based only on their integrity and decency in a given election. State by state, district by district, we must reward such campaigns with our votes and support. Then maybe we can truly once again, be the United States of America.
What’s Been Said…