Candidates for office are always scratching around for some way to connect with voters who may or may not have anything in common with the candidate per se. Politicans want to avoid at all cost the impression that he or she is “out of touch” with the citizens they need to get into office.
The newly discovered secret sauce to cement the connection appears to be something everyone has in common...a mother.
Kamala Harris is doing it. Governor Gretchen Whitmer has been doing it for years.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama did it.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elissa Slotkin is on board.
If you saw or caught any of the news clips from her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, you heard Kamala Harris weave in and out of her message what her mom had done for her. 13 references in all.
“If you complain about an injustice, do something about,” her single mother of two young girls drilled into their brains coupled with, for good measure, “never do anything half ass.”
Ms. Harris notified the laughing delegates that “that was a direct quote.” Raise your hand if you may have heard the same quote while living at home.
From her first days on the campaign trail six years ago, candidate Gretchen Whitmer talked about her multiple assignments of being a new mom, “taking care of my mother dying of cancer,” and doing her new career. She even repeated it during her 4 minutes and 30 seconds in the lime light center stage at the DNC on the closing night.
Ms. Obama in her convention speech mourned the recent passing of her mother telling the hushed audience that she almost scrubbed this event because of that pain. But then, to prove the positive influence her mom had, she told everyone her mother would have wanted her to do this and so there she was honoring her mom as she looked heavenward saying, “she is up there smiling.”
Candidate Slotkin took her “Mom” message to the airwaves during her primary and now general election commercials.
“The reason I’m running is because of my mom,” she stares into the camera sharing this touching moment with audience members. Perhaps some viewers can relate to Ms. Slotkin’s efforts to fight the insurance bureaucracy to get adequate treatment for her mom. Candidate Whitmer had the same story to tell.
If you step back and evaluate all of these messages it comes down to one powerful human emotion with a capital “E”.
Empathy. If the voter hears the office seeker and concludes “been there. Done that”, there’s a pretty good chance the connection might result in a vote on Election Day.
Gov. Whitmer made a point of that in her message aimed at undecided, moderate, and GOP voters that “Donald Trump doesn’t know you (but) Kamala Harris does. She is one of us.”
The question is does that human linkage motivate enough citizens to make a difference in a close contest. Or do the endless array of attack adds aimed at berating and marginalizing one’s opponent produce more pop at the polls?
We’re about to find out.
