Jacobson Does The RGA

Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting Takes A Baseball Bat To The Otten Piñata

Thursday, Mar 11, 2010 – 9:49 AM | One Comment

Everyone has been dancing around the whispers of “Les Otten” and “the failure of American Ski Company”, hesitant to engage, or really hammer him on the subject. Well – maybe not everyone – but the …

Read the full story »

Headlines

The biggest political news from around Maine.

Blaine House

News, analysis and opinion relating to the office of the Governor of Maine.

Maine Senate

The politics of the 35 member upper house of the Maine Legislature.

Maine House

The politics of the 151 member lower house of the Maine Legislature.

Commentary

A more detailed look at an issue, including analysis and opinion from Pine Tree Politics.

Home » Blaine House, Headlines

By Matthew Gagnon on Thursday, November 19, 20098 Comments

The Republican Governor’s Association is meeting this week in Austin, Texas, and the attendees have a visitor – Matt Jacobson of Maine.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate is in Austin, schmoozing with the RGA, meeting the nation’s Republican Governors (and Governors-elect), and presumably networking with some national donors and consultants. More importantly, Jacobson is the only Maine Republican gubernatorial candidate who is present.

This is significant for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that Haley Barbour (the Chairman of the RGA) is widely considered to be one of the Republican Party’s most brilliant tacticians, and Jacobson is there saying hello to him. The RGA will not get involved in the primary officially, but institutional support from some key allies certainly can’t help.

It also puts Jacobson in contact with a great deal of blue state Republican Governors – something highly valuable for a Republican trying to win in a blue state. Picking the brain of Tim Pawlenty, Linda Lingle, Chris Christie, and others who have won in “hostile territory” can certainly give some great strategic context that may help his team craft a message and political strategy.

In a release today, Jacobson had the following statement:

“I am honored to be here representing Maine at this important event,” stated Jacobson. “States are the laboratories of democracy, and these Governors and Governors-elect are leading the way toward fiscally responsible solutions to many of our national issues. The RGA has also proven itself as a successful political operation with their recent wins – and I am encouraged and optimistic about what that means for my campaign for Governor in 2010. “

Also important is some early lobbying for RGA money if Jacobson were to win the nomination. This is not the first time Jacobson has met with RGA officials, and building a relationship with them will pay off big time after the primary.

I have been told that the RGA is considering sinking 1 to 2 million dollars into Maine to win the Blaine House, so long as the polls show a reasonable chance of victory. This is likely whether or not Jacobson is the nominee – but building those bridges early will certainly go a long way toward guaranteeing that money.

This by no means says anything about the coming primary – it is entirely possible this will not effect it in the least – but it is at the very least a signal that Jacobson is very serious about his run and is interested in building a strong network behind him, both nationally and locally.

I will be especially interested to see if this helps build a larger, broader, national base of donors for Jacobson. It is one of the things I would be focusing on, were I in that room.

Share This Article:

Popularity: 3% [?]

8 Comments »

Shmedley said:

Exactly how many Maine voters do you think he’ll get to talk to in Austin, Texas?

This is another rookie mistake, imho. Especially the press release they put out about it, like anyone cares that he is at a seminar.

Politics 101: If you’re going to troll for money out of state, don’t send a press release out to announce it. Jacobson has enough of a problem from the not-from-Maine angle to begin with.

- 19 November 2009 at 4:04 PM

Matthew Gagnon said:

Shmedley,

Oh come on – that’s pretty weak. Setting up a strong network of donors, workers, consultants, etc is incredibly important. I don’t think the trip is all about money – I just think that is a potential positive side effect of it.

I think the REAL point/benefit is connecting with those types of people who have won in similar environments to Maine, seeing how they’ve done it, and building a relationship with Barbour and that entire network, which will be of huge importance after the primary, but also before it if he can push the right buttons.

And honestly, is Maine so nativist that going to an RGA meeting is sacrilege?

It is a great move that I think some of the other candidates should have taken advantage of.

- 19 November 2009 at 4:26 PM

Derek Viger said:

I’m hoping that Maine ceases being so afraid of people and ideas from “away” and open up a bit. We’re only hurting ourselves by trying to defend “the way life should be”. If everyone agreed with that sentiment Maine wouldn’t be in such a sorry state. Clearly running this state “way life should be” is killing Maine.

We need people who will look for things that work in every corner of the country. Let’s drop the nativist bologna and get to work fixing Maine.

- 19 November 2009 at 4:52 PM

Paul Kalkstein said:

Christie and Jacobson are quite similar in background, but the virulence of sentiment against the sitting governor in NJ goes way beyond what we have here, despite the general distaste Maine feels for Baldacci. However, if Jacobson gets the Republican “training” which may be required for national support, and follows through with the required negativity – especially to the income tax cut – he may win the nomination, but he’ll be crushed in the election. Maine is tired of “can’t do” and the hypocrisy of a Republican trying to undo the new-business-friendly tax cut that other Republicans have been calling for these many years won’t play with the voters.

- 19 November 2009 at 5:51 PM

Matthew Gagnon said:

Paul,

I’m not sure what you are talking about.

What “requisite training” are you talking about? Christie was actually pretty positive in NJ, and stayed away from hammering on taxes – which is actually part of the reason it was as close as it was. Corzine is the one who went negative.

And honestly, looking at Bob McDonnell in Virginia – I’m not sure what this “negativity” sentiment is that you are talking about.

Haley Barbour is a political genius. He would never push a candidate to run a hard negative campaign in a state where that would be destructive (like Maine). National support stems from relationships and ability to win more than anything… what is this “negativity” nonsense you are talking about?

As for tax reform – I assume you are referring to the tax reform package passed by the Democrats months ago. I highly doubt that is going to be a very big wedge used by the Republicans in this campaign… but even if it is, I don’t see how that is an overly “negative” campaign – it is a policy disagreement… and one that really deserves to be discussed rationally.

- 19 November 2009 at 6:12 PM

Dan Billings said:

I think this is a smart move by Matt. It could help him with fundraising and learning from successful Republican Governors is good from a political and policy standpoint.

- 19 November 2009 at 8:09 PM

john j bouchard said:

I guess when you have a candidate like Bruce Poliquin who is
raising alot of money you have to go to Texas to try to catch up
(Jacobson}.

- 20 November 2009 at 5:09 PM

Schmedley said:

I don’t think there is anything wrong with going, I just think it’s retarded to send a press release out celebrating it.

To your point that other candidates might have gone as well- of course. And so could anyone else. It is not an accomplishment to pay the airfare to fly to texas for a conference. No one in the GOP primary electorate will think better of Matt Jacobson because he went to a conference in Texas. No member of the press will consider him a more serious candidate because of it.

It may be great for him to make those connections, but it was foolish and seemingly desperate to send out a press release as if it were noteworthy.

- 22 November 2009 at 12:13 PM