Dear HCN,
Columnist Ellen Miller
posits that U.S. Senate candidate Tom Strickland lost the support
of western Colorado because he supported Clinton’s recent
declaration of a new national monument for Utah and consequently
lost the race to Wayne Allard (HCN, 11/25/96). Her reasoning is
wrong. Strickland lost simply because there were 105,000 more
registered Republicans (who tend to vote the party line) than
Democrats (who tend to not vote at
all).
Furthermore, to suggest that our “campaign
gunslingers relied on quick polls and focus groups’ and that “he
let his handlers call a big one” is pure fallacy. We never
conducted any focus groups on any issues during the campaign nor
did Strickland ever rely on “handlers.” He traveled to the Grand
Canyon with Gov. Romer because President Clinton asked him and
because he has always supported the preservation of 5.7 million
acres of Utah wilderness well before he ever became a
candidate.
Matthew L.
Moseley
Boulder,
Colorado
The writer was
youth-vote director for the Strickland campaign for U.S.
Senate.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline It was too many Republicans.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
