Gambaro vs. Smith: A Rhetorical Cage Match

Since my last post, the Missouri Senate race for the 4th District has become even more heated. With St. Louis Post-Dispatch's recent coverage of the race, with the paper's editorial page giving its endorsement to Smith while highlighting Gambaro's ruse (a GOP masquerading as a Democrat), and with columnist Sylvester Brown's assessment of the race (he thinks it'll come down to El Amin vs. Smith), the crucial weekend before the big vote is upon the 4th District.

And do we ever know it.

In my area of the city, I've only received one flier from El Amin and nothing from Boykins or Jones. Probably based on some form of cost-benefit analysis, the three candidates are probably just waiting for a late minute blitz on the more white areas of the district, or maybe they think it's futile to reach out to these voters. Who knows, but if they want to represent the whole district, I'd at least appreciate more than perfunctory contact.

In my section of the district, the 23rd ward, it looks like a battle between Smith and Gambaro. After the Gambaro campaign's phone calls to folks in the district about whether Smith is being "straight" with them (wink, wink--nudge, nudge), Smith has fought back with some of his own attack ads, though they're supported by "facts."

In a couple of feel-good ads, Smith is showcased with a number of diverse political players in the St. Louis area. One, in fact, is entitled "They're telling it to you straight," which is a savvy way to use your opponent's words against them.

The last two days, however, Smith has raised the hostility factor. One slick ad provides four main points why voters should "Vote NO on Derio Gambaro--A Republican in Democrat's Clothing": 1) he supports Bush's privatization scheme for Social Security, 2) he opposes stem cell research, 3) he supports police officers being able to move out of the city, and 4) "Now he's trying to smear an honest Democrat."

The first three talking points are supported with a pseudo-Works Cited insert called "Check the facts," which is a smart move. It adds at least some glimmer of credibility to a political ad.

The ad's third talking point, "Then he backed a plan that put our safety at risk" probably doesn't hurt Smith politically that much because the police have officially endorsed Gambaro, but there was more rhetorical hay to be made here. As many of us probably realize now, housing prices in the city (and many parts of the county) have stagnated because of a variety factors. But Smith might have wanted to make a causal claim here. If a substantial portion of city police officers are putting their homes up for sale, that floods the real estate market in the city and would further stifle housing prices. If Smith would have pressed that possible connection--police officers leaving the city not only make the city less safe but also decrease the value of your home--that could persuade some fence-sitters. And, if I remember correctly, wasn't the the GOP the main proponents of letting cops relax residency rules, which as the ad says, "ignored the clear will of City voters..."?

Smith's ad today had a Western theme, "WANTED: For Trying To Kill Social Security," an ad that pounded on talking point 1) from the previous ad: "Derio Gambaro Helped George W. Bush Try to Kill SOCIAL SECURITY." Gambaro's op-ed piece in the Hannibal rag is being used mercilessly as political fodder again, but even more revealing is the statement by the Vice-Chair of the St. Louis GOP that Republicans should vote for Gambaro and the 20K funding of Gambaro's campaign by the Show-Me Institute. I wonder, however, how "conservative" this so-called think tank is though.

If a message on my answering machine tonight is any indication, this cage match isn't going to get statesman-like over the weekend. A testosterone-filled voice on my machine reeled off a number of statements about Jeff Smith. The caller stated that he's a "part-time professor of African-American Studies." From my understanding, Smith is instructor at both Wash U and UMSL, and he teaches Political Science. Why the mention of "African-American Studies"??? This may be a reach, but is this some "reverse race card"? Is the caller trying to say, "Mr. White Person in the 23rd Ward, Smith will side with the Blacks." That's truly sad if that's the intent.

The caller then proceeded to label Smith a "carpetbagger" because he was a resident of New Hampshire and supposedly he wasn't rehired at a university there. I have no knowledge of that and really don't care. I've lived in the city since '03, what of it? Perhaps the implication is that he isn't a "Massachusetts liberal," but a "New Hampshire liberal"? Funny.

My favorite part of the message was the way it ended. In rhetoric, it's sometimes more interesting to analyze what isn't said as opposed to what is actually said. The caller simply stated that Smith is out of touch with the concerns of Missourians, and he left it at that. The message didn't identify who he was calling for at all. Both hilarious and ridiculous! At least the attack ads about Gambaro identify that Smith's campaign sent them. Jeez.

It's hot out there for folks in the 4th District.

There's a lot of scorched earth.