Wayne Parker stakes out an aggressive campaign strategy....

I've been saying for a while that in order for Wayne Parker to beat State Senator Parker Griffith it would take two things, money (duh) and the ability to drag national politics into this race.

MONEY:
As of 6/30, which was a month ago, the money issue is still a little to early to call. Griffith has $351,838 on hand and Wayne Parker only has $73,281, but he had multiple primary opponents and a runoff, while Griffith took on this hobo. The total contributions are a little closer, Griffith has raised $572,200 and Parker has raised $436,064. Again these numbers are from 6/30 and the runoff was on the 15th, so things should have ramped up.

Maybe Parker can cash in on Cheryl Baswell Guthrie's $200,000 that was "pledged."

NATIONAL POLITICS:
Can Parker Griffith connect Wayne Parker to George W. Bush and his low approval ratings? I don't think so, he won't even be definitive on whether who he is voting for in the Presidential race. This becomes harder when you realize how conservative the voters in North Alabama are.

Can Wayne Parker connect Parker Griffith to low approval ratings for the Democratic controlled Congress and Barack Obama? Well, he is trying. The head of the National Republican Congressional Committee Rep. Tom Cole (OK-04) came to campaign for Parker today and the campaign is attempting three very interesting things: (from a Wayne Parker campaign press release)

Connecting Griffith to House Democrats and Nancy Pelosi

“When it comes to the national political parties, you can’t say you’re a conservative and vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House,” stated Cole. “If you look at the Democrat leadership, it is clear that they are not committed to missile defense, they don’t believe in NASA, and they want to take jobs away from Huntsville.”

Connecting Griffith to Barack Obama

Democrat Presidential hopeful, Barack Obama, in a video taped message to Caucus for Priorities (http://www.caucus4priorities.org/) stated, “As President, I will end misguided defense policies,” and, “I will cut tens of billions of dollars in wasteful spending. I will cut investments in unproven missile defense systems.”¹ In addition, Barack Obama’s PreK-12 Education plan calls for, “delaying the NASA Constellation Program for five years…”

These comments are especially smart considering how much this district and federal dollars in the area are focused on the activities of Research Park and Redstone Arsenal.

Discrediting the "conservative credentials" of the "Blue Dog Democrats" and Bud Cramer

And finally this tidbit which Rep. Cole also shared with me Monday morning. (listen here)

“I understand that Wayne’s opponent has been endorsed by the Blue Dog Democrats,” stated Cole. “I am surprised that he is proud to be a member of a group that votes with the Democrat Party line nearly 93% of the time,” Cole continued

This comment is meant to attack Griffith's attempted conservatism and the popularity of the big "Blue Dog" who he wants to replace, Representative Bud Cramer. Cramer is considered a pretty conservative guy and it appears Griffith wants that to rub off on him, in order to court the conservative vote that Cramer had. The key to Parker winning is to not allow that to happen.

This race could get very interesting.

UPDATE: 8/29/08 7:30AM
Parker Griffith has "responded" with a non response to the question "Will you support Nancy Pelosi?

"I don't know who the nominees will be," Griffith said. "I don't know if there will be a challenge to Nancy Pelosi or not. My comment on this is that my loyalty would be to the 5th Congressional District and its constituents. It would seem Congressman Cole doesn't have enough positive to say about my opponent if he spent so much time talking about Nancy Pelosi.

Keep in mind Bud Cramer voted for Pelosi for Speaker also.

It is amazing how that evasive answer is similar to the answer Griffith gives to the "are you voting for Barack Obama?" question.

Just answer the question Sen. Griffith.