An Issues Oriented, Honest Campaign: Study 1

In a recent post, we examined John Kline's most recent fundraising letter in some detail, noting that while he pledges to "run an issues oriented, honest campaign," the letter itself discusses no policy issues and makes a number of (to put it charitably) uncharitable remarks about his opponent, Coleen Rowley, and her campaign.

By way of contrast, let's take a look at Coleen Rowley's latest fundraising letter. Note how it lists seven issues of national significance and Rowley's position on them:

"We need to show America that Democrats stand for real change: a clear strategy to bring our troops home safe and stabilize Iraq; economic and health care policies that serve American families; an energy strategy that actually breaks our addiction to foreign oil, not just an empty promise to do so. We need to make education and balancing the budget top priorities again. Most importantly, we need to put an end to the Republican culture of corruption through aggressive ethics reform.

Further note that the strongest statements she makes about John Kline are: he won't make the changes she supports, and Kline's representation is "politics as usual" (or "business as usual", there seems to be a bit of confusion on that point). Notably lacking are statements calling Kline or his campaign "nasty", "ugly", "insincere", "radical" or "absurd".

You may wish to show Coleen Rowley or John Kline which fundraising letter you find most persuasive.