To Defeat Congressman Turner, Joe Roberts Should Develop A Compelling Message — A Video Project

During the Q/A at the South of Dayton Democratic Club, last night, I found myself publicly chiding Joe Roberts, one of our special speakers, to improve his web-site.

Joe Roberts, 25, with his Mom at his recent fund raiser held at the "Trolley Stop" in Dayton, Ohio. Joe is the Democratic candidate seeking election to congress to represent Ohio's 3rd District. Joe is challenging the Republican incumbent, Mike Turner.

Joe recently won the special 3rd District Democratic Primary — besting Guy Fogel and David Esrati — and is now working to unseat the Republican incumbent, Mike Turner. Our South of Dayton Democratic Club bought one ticket to Joe’s $125 fund raiser to be held at Mama Disalvo’s — and raffled it off. I think, Mary Parts was the winner.

During the Q/A, I told Joe that, especially, because he is only twenty-five years old, everything he does in the campaign will be held to a high standard of quality, maybe, even an unfair standard. I said that it is important that he meet every standard of quality and, regardless of his inexperience and youth, demonstrate that he is ready for prime time — ready to serve in Washington as an effective representative for the citizens of Ohio’s 3rd District.

But, I said, his web-site communicates an opposite message. The web-site has not been updated for over ten weeks and the web-site’s “position papers” appear to be only first draft efforts — each in need of a lot of editing and rewriting.

I told Joe that I found nothing printed, and no video — not at his web-site, nor his Facebook page — that gives a thorough and compelling case why voters who previously had chosen Mike Turner should, in this election, vote for him, the Democratic alternative.

Nothing is more important, right now, than that Joe devote his time and energy to developing a compelling message and that he find effective vehicles to deliver that message.

I’d like to see the Roberts’ campaign develop a twenty minute video that an interested voter would be able to download that would make a compelling case why a vote for Joe Roberts to represent Ohio’s 3rd District makes sense.  Without a compelling message, clearly crafted, Joe’s campaign has little chance of success — regardless of money raised, yard signs distributed, etc. — so I hope my comments are accepted by Joe.

Here are previous posts about the 3rd Congressional District.

• To Defeat Congressman Turner, Dr. MacNealy Must Emphasize His Commitment To Democracy; May 5th, 2010
• Congressman Mike Turner Makes A “Progressive Score” Of 14% — Ranks 288th Out Of 434 Members; August 17th, 2009
• Rep. Mike Turner Scores 50% — Grade Of “C” — On Votes Pro Middle Class: Drum Major Foundation Says; August 6th, 2009
• Congressman Mike Turner’s Failure To Explain His “No” Vote Is More Evidence Our Democracy Is In Deep Trouble; January 29th, 2009
• Mike Turner Voted “No” On Auto Bailout Because He Feared GM Would Send Money To Brazil; December 12th, 2008
• The DDN Misses The Big Picture, Its Reasons To Support Congressman Turner Are Nonsense; October 31st, 2008
• Only 11% Of Mike Turner’s Votes Are Progressive, Only 3% Of John Boehner’s Votes Are Progressive; October 22nd, 2008
• Mike Turner Is A Bum, For Our Democracy’s Sake, Let’s Throw The Bum Out; October 16th, 2008
• Effectively Using the Internet Is Key to Jane Mitakides Defeating Congressman Mike Turner; September 24th, 2008
• For Congressman Mike Turner, “Pork Has Been a Family Affair” — Mother Jones; August 15th, 2008
• Did Congressman Turner Mis-Use The Franking Privilege? DDN Asked to Investigate; August 12th, 2008
• To Defeat Turner, Mitakides Must Communicate A Compelling Reason For Change; March 20th, 2008