He Does It His Way

So, Michael Steele is back on the air with another ad, this one with Steele sitting on the front steps of his house (not his house?), with his two teenage sons. Good-looking young men. It's intended to be a humanizing ad, which seems like an odd choice the day before the election. But maybe Steele needs more humanizing, given the negative ads that have been running against him. The whole ad consists of Steele's two sons making fun of him, telling voters that their dad isn't as cool as he thinks he is. He doesn't know how to use computers, and, oh, yeah, his musical taste is questionable . . . . The commercial seems designed to tell voters that Steele, a middle-aged black man, likes Sinatra. (The joke here is partly that his sons can't even remember the word "Sinatra.")

Now, it's entirely possible for Steele to like Sinatra. He even seems like a Sinatra guy, now that this fact is out there. But, if so, then he's a lot less cool than his sons know. More importantly, what is the politics of a black Republican candidate liking Sinatra? Because it's not clear how this revelation will help Steele among black voters. (My sense is that he needs to win about 20% of the black vote to have a chance in Maryland.) Could the calculation be that, if Steele, as a black man, likes Sinatra, that will reassure some white voters in Maryland who may not be 100% comfortable voting for a black candidate, even a black Republican? "Well, hon, he likes Sinatra, so he can't be all bad." Is that the targeted demographic here?

But then the commercial turns back toward the politically viable, I think. The sons also have trouble remembering "Motown." Now, maybe Steele likes both Sinatra and Motown. Sure, could be. But why not lead with Motown? Motown is a lot cooler than Sinatra, and no black voter is going to think, "The man likes Smokey Robinson, and he wants my vote? F**k that." And there can't be many white voters, even in Baltimore, who have strongly negative feelings toward Motown, can there? I mean, that's about as mainstream as music gets these days. So, I don't get the Sinatra thing. It must be true.

One final point on this ad: Steele would never have made this race as close as it is (and it's possible, although I think unlikely, that he will win) if he didn't have a lot of charm. But his charm wouldn't have gotten him this far if he hadn't had tons of cash to spend on television ads. He was on-air early and often, and a new ad in the last days . . . he's always had serious cash on hand, from what I can tell. My question is, where did all this money come from? It is an open seat, so I guess that explains some of it. But is it the case that national Republicans have been contributing, generously, to this campaign?

Those commercials, btw, wouldn't have gotten Steele this far if they weren't also terribly misleading. Steele isn't just running away from the president. He's running away from himself, his own record, his past statements. And I think that, in the end, the national Democratic and Cardin ads will be enough to remind voters where Steele really stands on the issues.