It was a rough week for Team Fletcher. Let’s recap the week’s events.
Sunday (5/6/12)
- The BIG endorsement of Carl DeMaio from the UT San Diego.
Monday (5/7/12)
- A mailpiece highlighted Nathan’s record of voting for tax increases.
- Fletcher’s high rate of no-shows and missing votes caught up with him when he asked to be removed from his Committee to avoid a tax increase vote. A No vote would anger the unions he has been desperately courting so it was better to get out of town. Voters and the media got an up close example of what he has been doing all year. Kudos to the Sacramento Bee for breaking it before the locals.
- Fletcher’s education press conference got little attention and was overshadowed by his skipping out on session.
- The first member communication from the SD Democrat Party mailer supporting Filner landed in Democrat mailboxes.
- www.fletcherfacts.com was launched
Tuesday (5/8/12)
- The SD Democrat Party sent another member communications mailer to Democrats urging them to vote for Bob Filner and against Republican Nathan Fletcher.
- Fletcher launched his new TV ad “Character”. It was criticized for being over the top and saying “Shame on you” to anyone that didn’t serve in the military. To Nathan’s credit, he did pull the ad and replaced the condemnation of people that didn’t serve. Here is the KUSI story.
Wednesday (5/9/12)
- The SD Democratic Party launched www.fletchersfriends.com
- Voters got another mailer highlighting Nathan missing votes and work.
Thursday (5/10/12)
- Another mail piece landed in Republican mailboxes, again highlighting his poor attendance and missing work.
Friday (5/11/12)
- An in-depth UT article broke with the real facts. Nathan has only voted 47% of the time in 2012 and missed 136 votes in 2011 not the 52 his staff has been claiming.
- Fletcher admitted that his campaign staff had been under counting his missed votes and misleading reporters.
- Readers of the UT wake to find this damaging op-ed by Roger Hedgecock.
To Team Fletcher’s credit:
- He scored a sympathetic piece by UT reporter Matt Hall rehashing the donation that Tierra Gonzalez gave to him on March 17th. It was written about two months after it happened. It is a testament to Fletcher’s communication guru Matt David’s ability to influence local reporters.
- Fletcher’s IE got two mailers in mailboxes this week.
- Voice of San Diego rehashed Nathan’s bold stance on gay marriage.
Overall, Team Fletcher had a bad week. No doubt, they will do something Big and Bold next week.
Will he pull a John McCain and suspend his campaign to focus on his job in Sacramento?
Will he pull a Sarah Palin and quit the Assembly to focus on the Mayoral race?
Will he pull a Harry Sidhu and shred negative mail while pledging to only do positive campaigning?
Will he pull an Arlen Specter and go full Dem?
Or will he pull a Schwarzenegger and switch his positions on everything he’s run on up until this race?
The possibilities are countless. Team Fletcher is undoubtedly staffed by seasoned and capable professionals that won’t let a tough week keep them off track for long. Weigh in. What will Fletcher’s next move be?
Full Disclosure: I am a Carl DeMaio supporter and no mailer would change that.