Press Releases

I'm going to comment on something Peter posted here.

Peter implies (though does not openly say) that Mitch did something wrong or stupid here, but Kenneth is absolutely right. Any paper sent out by the campaign (including press releases) has to have the "paid for by" on it somewhere. While there may be some folks who will enjoy a little bit of schadenfreude to see Mitch stumble a little, I can't blame him for getting a little miffed at the paper's response.

His failure, as has been pointed out, was a failure to do his homework, as regards that particular publication. He should have seen that his candidate had been ignoring interview requests before including them on this press list.

Press releases and press conferences can, in my mind, take up too much of a campaign's time. I believe in sending out plenty of press releases, but I also believe that the average press release is just tossing something out and seeing if it sticks - and most things don't stick. That's why when I see kitchen cabinets spending a long time crafting the perfect language, I get frustrated - it's not a good use of time to spend a lot of it on something that will get minimal attention.

In fact, if you are commenting on something timely, it is better to get something out that quickly (provided it is on message) than to craft the perfect, pithy comment that doesn't get out until later in the news cycle.