Rove and Bloomberg efforts likely to backfire

Ed Rogers:

Two new political initiatives have been launched in the past two months by high-profile personalities Karl Rove and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Both initiatives seek to impact the outcome of the 2014 elections, but both have become controversial in their efforts to do so. Most recently, Bloomberg made an announcement that he will spend an initial $12 million to run ads in select cities pressuring specific senators to adopt stricter gun control measures. He has also said he will commit millions of dollars to his Mayors Against Illegal Guns group.

Outside groups can make a difference in campaigns. But Rove and Bloomberg appear to have handled the roll-out and announcement of their respective political operations in a way that may have harmed their causes in states where they had hoped to make more of a difference.

I could see how an incumbent senator could easily deflect a lot of the firepower directed at them by Mayor Bloomberg just by letting voters know that the billionaire mayor of New York City has come to their home state to run ads telling them not only what kind of guns they can have, but how much more paperwork they need to fill out and send to Washington in order to own a gun. The opponents of these targeted senators would then have to answer the question of whether or not they agree with the billionaire mayor of New York City imposing his personal view of gun ownership on their state. Bloomberg is making himself an easy target, and that could prove detrimental to his effectiveness on the issue of gun control.

Rove made a bold announcement that he and his Conservative Victory Project group were going to get involved in GOP primary races, instantly leading to a rallying cry by the anti-establishment crowd that Washington consultants were getting involved in GOP primaries. Obviously, it is a real negative to be seen as the Washington establishment candidate in a GOP primary just about anywhere in the country.

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Bloomberg is not that popular outside of NY City and his views on guns are even less popular.  His recent ads have demonstrated a lack of understanding about how guns are handled and they use charactertures of  how gun owners think and use their weapons.

Rove could actually be much more effective if he focused on schooling nominees on how to respond to the abortion questions they will be asked by the mainstream media.  Wood shedding the candidates who win would be a much more productive effort and it would save money for the general election to be used against Democrats.