This is a small lie, but a lie nonetheless. Rep. Kristi Noem is now backfilling her official Events page with public appearances that have already come and gone. As recently as August 16 (believe it or not, I don't obsessively review Noem's website every day), the most recent event listed on our Congresswoman's Events page was her March 2 swing through schools in Madison, Brookings, and Hayti for Dr. Seuss Day.
Since then, Noem has added eight events that she attended from April 12 to August 16. Each one of those event announcements posted since August 16 is written in the future tense, as if they had been written and published before the events happened.
We all know that's not the case. Noem appears to be responding to criticism leveled by Democratic House candidate Matt Varilek and other constituents that our Congresswoman has been derelict in her duty to get out and talk to South Dakotans.
But Team Kristi can't work up effective Orwellian lies about their own lackadaisicality. After Varilek brought the heat at Dakotafest, the Mitchell Daily Republic's Tom Lawrence asked the Noem campaign to name some recent public town hall events the Congresswoman has held. Team Kristi said she held to town halls on July 13, in Bison and Buffalo. But the only after-the-fact announcement added to the official Noem scrapbook is her July 13 appearance at the Boss Cowman Rodeo in Lemmon.
Amateurs! If you're going to lie, lie well. Lie in a way that (1) casual observers can't catch and (2) actually deflects the fire you're taking.
Based on your reporting, Cory, Rep. Noem's campaign is entirely reactionary at this point. With a lack of proactiveness on her part, she is in big trouble. When her campaign is stuck in reacting to everything her challenger does and says, it doesn't bode well for success in November for Noem.
Varilek might take a hint from the adoption of the malapropism, ObamaCare, embrace the "cap and tax" label, and prove its effectiveness to the voters.
The earth haters wouldn't be bringing it up if it didn't scare them.
Candidate Noem is out of control. Campaigns are about setting goals, grasping details and getting the tasks completed on the timeline on the road to winning. While the editorial negligence of her calendar seems like too much inside baseball to most, it is yet another sign that Noem really does not have a campaign, and I suspect the candidate has decided she is the campaign manager.
When an opponent sees this kind of sloppiness and confusion, it's time to push hard and never stop.
Dougal is entirely correct. Historically we have seen that when campaigns become reactionary, the candidate usually loses the race because of a "lack of vision." It's what eventually happened to Pressler and Daschle.
That will only happen if, as Dougal asserts: "When an opponent sees this kind of sloppiness and confusion, it's time to push hard and never stop."
This means that Matt Varilek is going to have to relentlessly continue to press Noem hard on her lack of duty to the office she swore she would uphold for the interest of her constituents and not herself. Team Varilek is going to have to never stop pressing her on that all the way through Election Day.