September 23, 2020 08:57 AM UTC

Cory Gardner's Hickenlooper Wannabe Campaign Continues

• 3 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Hot on the heels of Sen. Cory Gardner’s last negative ad, in which Gardner lovingly hand-washes somebody’s Maserati while reciting various falsehoods about former Gov. John Hickenlooper’s record, Gardner has a new TV spot out today lamenting the fact that Hickenlooper is running negative ads about Gardner:

Back in 2010, Hickenlooper ran a particularly well-received ad in that year’s gubernatorial race depicting himself showering fully clothed–highlighting the fact that in that he didn’t campaign on negative attacks against his opponent. Of course, in 2010 Hickenlooper didn’t need to go negative, since the Republican gubernatorial campaign that year collapsed in a heap of plagiarism allegations and the emergence of a laughably unqualified GOP nominee who proceeded to garner 11% of the vote.

In 2020, nobody is going to begrudge Hickenlooper for taking the gloves off against Cory Gardner, certainly not after the ruthless character assassination campaign waged by Republicans against Hick from the moment he got into the U.S. Senate race. But with this latest ad from Gardner, there’s something else becoming quite clear: Gardner is mimicking Hickenlooper’s greatest hits as his own campaign strategy. And it’s…weird:

Here’s the problem: everybody knows Hickenlooper is the beer-drinking friendly former governor who once took a shower fully clothed. When Cory Gardner steps out of that shower, or toasts you with his Coors Light or whatever he’s drinking in the ad above, the viewer doesn’t think of Cory Gardner–they think about John Hickenlooper. Sure there’s a message in the ad attacking Hickenlooper, but the visual is just Gardner pretending to be Hickenlooper. With Gardner struggling to offer an affirmative case for re-election in a state that has abandoned his politics, these ads are practically an admission that Gardner has nothing original to offer. They’re the ads you make on the way to losing.

All that’s left now is for Gardner to jump out of his own plane.