"The Democratic nominee is David DiGiacinto (and he is going to win).The Republican nominee is Meg Holland (and she is going to lose)."
That's what BethlehemDem wrote a few days ago about Bethlehem's Controller race. I agreed with him, too. After all, Democrats have a vast registration edge and DiGiacinto outspent Holland three to one. But when the dust had settled late Tuesday night, Holland was standing on top. She won in both Lehigh and Northampton County, squeaking by with 51.38% of the total vote.
So how the hell did Meg pull this rabbit out of a hat? Here's how campaign volunteer/daughter, Meg Holland Schaeffer, explains it.
- Walking to 3,000+ doors
- Poll coverage by family members (almost all polls were covered and we all stood out from 7am-7pm most without leaving) and even with all the press coverage people still did not know much about the Controller race (DiGiacinto floated around between polls, but I believe only had 2 or 3 covered all day)
- Very effective campaign mailers
- Qualifications (people who did read about the race said they understood that she was more qualified)
- "Holland" last name and people's friendship and respect for my grandparents and other family members (Attorney Robert Holland and Marie Holland) (BethDem told me it didn't matter about my grandparents.. a lot of people told us at the polls they came out to vote for my mom because of them)
I'd prefer to think it was magic.
3 comments:
Meg ran a good campaign considering she was outspent by close to $40,000.
She was able to reach across the aisle and get democrats to vote for a republican...that is the magic in Bethlehem.
Some other things that went to her advantage:
-Having Callahan support her, at least quietly, went to her advantage. Supposedly, he attended one of her fundraisers.
-The low voter turnout.
-A weak Democratic candidate. While Digiacinto was well funded, he was not well known and had questionable experience.
I think that a strong Democratic candidate would have beat her. As Tom Foolery said on my blog, someone like Delgrosso would have won.
I just hope she does not tell other Republicans her secrets or share her magic.
meg holland worked very hard and had a lot of Dem support. a Callahan vs Schweder thing. looks like Atty Ed redding knows how to pick them.
I hope Severson is taking notes...
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