So it's the end of the news cycle today, and I'm looking around for Corinna Robinson. Last I'd heard, Robinson was planning to officially announce her candidacy today, Veterans Day. But we've heard nothing. No big press release in the inbox. No Twitter action unleashed. No fiery kickoff speech YouTubed onto Facebook (there's a statement that would have been incomprehensible 20 years ago!). CorinnaRobinson.com still parked blank. Did I miss something?
Helene Duhamel sent a KOTA camera to catch Corinna at the snowy Rapid City Veterans Day parade. Robinson stood with her fellow veterans but did not commandeer the stage. She also chose not to clutter the reverent day with her political announcement. At the end of her report, Duhamel says "she did not want to make her formal campaign announcement today because today is about veterans."
I'm at least glad to finally hear Robinson's voice on air. In that small clip, from a purely speech-coach perspective, she sounds like she has a voice we can work with.
Her sentiment is right: let the patriotic parade play out unhindered, wait for better coverage in the regular news cycle. But why say last month that you'd make an announcement on Veterans Day?
It's a small error. But it does signal that this campaign is not a long-planned roll-out. Robinson for House appears to be a very new enterprise that's had time to print that snappy South Dakota name tag but still needs to sit down and map out its full plan of attack.
Possibly complicating the planning and logistics: Bajun R. Mavalwalla, the man who lists his current job as "Campaign Manager" for "Corinna for South Dakota," lists his place of residence as Copenhagen, Denmark. Kind of tough to get around and rent the Rushmore Civic Center or the VFW for a big campaign rally from across the Atlantic....
Update 2013.11.12 04:44 Central European Time: But Captain Mavalwalla is a decorated (two Bronze Stars!) military intelligence officer. Forget arranging a fancy campaign announcement; he can probably call in drone surveillance on Kristi Noem's house from Copenhagen! Call in the big guns!
http://www.kotatv.com/story/23935810/rapid-city-native-kicks-off-her-campaign
Didn't find anything at Keloland.com. Found two small blurbs on websites for KSFY and KDLT.
http://www.ksfy.com/story/23939317/retired-army-officer-ready-to-take-on-noem
http://www.kdlt.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31352&Itemid=57
The suspense is killing me! lol One thing that really impresses me is that she rose thru the ranks as enlisted to what was reported on KOTA to SFC and then went thru Officer Candidate School. One thing the Army or our military stresses is continuing your education whether it be for enlisted or officer to be able to rise up thru the ranks. My uncle who is a Vietnam Vet always said that officers who rose thru the ranks and went thru OCS tended to be better officers since they were better rounded and could relate to those who were enlisted better vs someone graduating from a military academy. The advantage would not only be in peacetime but if we went to war who would you as enlisted feel more comfortable with in regards to your life some fresh gung ho officer fresh out of the academy or someone who is seasoned?
She and I joined the military about the same time. She was fulltime Army and I was Army National Guard to help pay for college. It was during the Reagan years and the Army was still healing from Vietnam and the negative impression or stigma I got from my peers out of high school at the time was that the military were for those that couldn't make it in civilian life.
When I went to basic and my training for my specific job I was amazed at just how wrong my peers were. The economy was in tough shape with farms being foreclosed, 16.9 % financing was a great deal in buying a new car and cities like Detroit were starting to get hit hard. Many of those who enlisted had college degrees, some were in college and those that were not came from hard hit areas in the country and had families to support besides kids coming out of high school. The NCO's that trained us had bachelor's degrees and some with Masters which further impressed me.
My brief time in the military provided an invaluable experience that further shaped me and I will always speak highly of it especially for those young kids who may consider it. They will grow in many ways from it.
Corinna Robinson has my respect with what she has accomplished in her military career and now I'm trying to be patient yet excited to see how she will use her leadership skills, work ethic, education and experience in helping our country in the US. House.
Lets get this going! lol :)
Captain Mavalwalla looks like a bodyguard or a secret service agent. Trust me, nobody will mess with the candidate while the campaign manager is around.
Managing a successful congressional campaign is not the same skill set as being a successful military officer.
Nick I agree.
This is true, Nick. Captain Mavalwalla carries a desert camo item with his name on it and the Airborne logo. This campaign so far feels like some folks from outside who nobody knows have parachuted into SD from DC asking us to send them back to DC. Of course, that has worked before more than once. But those other folks were not so long removed from residing in SD. I have an open mind about this campaign, but I'm not in a hurry to commit.
Airborne makes a drop in South Dakota! I'm not committed until I learn more so meanwhile am in a holding pattern for now.
I'm hoping these Army folks can find the right big guns; we need someone to bring the fight! (Of course, having traveled around the world, they are clearly unqualified for the job, just like Matt Varilek, right, Republicans?)
In better news, Corinna's website is up! http://corinnaforsd.com/
No linky-linkies yet, but at least she's there. And her campaign Twitter is up, too. Go follow her, and then carpet-bomb her with requests for policy statements (and maybe more military metaphors that will make her and her campaign manager laugh at us civilians)!