Judge celebrated her embarrassing primary performance by being caught on camera promising that she would not roll out a single policy idea until after Election Day. And she’s still getting shredded by grassroots Democrats as well as local media for her complete lack of interest in talking about issues that matter to Iowa families.
Longtime Iowa political reporter and columnist argued that Judge’s uninspiring primary performance spells trouble for her already-uphill climb against Chuck Grassley:
It won’t be enough to run a relentlessly negative campaign against Grassley, and therein lies the real concern about Judge’s performance in the primary. Judge never managed to develop a compelling reason for why she should be Iowa’s next senator, which was especially apparent during debates in the past two weeks.
She was vague and, at times, seemed uninformed about issues that Iowans expect a senator to know, such as that pay equity is already the law of the land. She had relatively few detailed proposals and seemed at times to lack energy and passion.
Judge was also welcomed to the general election by a local Democrat leader who told the candidate that her low-energy campaign was failing to connect with voters:
- “Linda Nelson, chair of Pottawattamie County Democrats in western Iowa, endorsed Hogg. Nelson said she will support Judge but is urging her to show more energy on the campaign trail to excite the Democratic base. ‘Set up some listening posts and say, “I want to hear from you,”’ Nelson recommended.” (“Judge Launches Campaign Against Grassley,” Associated Press, 6/8/16)
Yet another local Democrat leader criticized Judge’s do-nothing, say-nothing approach, pleading with her to break her own pledge and actually come forward with something resembling an agenda:
- “Bret Niles, chair of Linn County Democrats in eastern Iowa, didn’t formally endorse a candidate though he had a preference for Hogg, who represents the area. He said Judge needs to be clearer about her priorities as a candidate if she wants to defeat Grassley. ‘She’s going to really need to step up her message and get out and make sure that people around the state really know what is at stake,’ he said.” (“Judge Launches Campaign Against Grassley,” Associated Press, 6/8/16)
There you have it: a vague, uninformed, uncompelling, low-energy candidate whose own party says she needs to work harder and articulate an agenda. Welcome to the general election.