Tonight when I got home I had a message on my answering machine. It was from Barack Obama, urging me to vote for Ronnie Musgrove, the Democratic candidate for US Senator. Sort of.
My first thought was “Why is Musgrove doing this? This is political suicide.” Mississippi is a very red state when it comes to national elections. Democrats still rule the local elections (strange, I know), but we haven’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Carter. The only way Musgrove had a shot at winning was to avoid being connected with the Obama and Pelosi crowd. Why would he approve this phone call?
Turns out, he didn’t. The call was actually a Wicker ad. Wicker is Musgrove’s former roommate and Republican opponent. The audio at the beginning of the call was from a radio ad that Musgrove was using somewhere in the state. My guess would be the Delta. I think it’s the only majority Democrat area in the state.
It’s strange that a candidate’s own ad can be used against them.