March 14, 2008 11:02 PM UTC

Schaffer Stays Silent

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• by: Colorado Pols

Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer is still doing his best to avoid talking about anything. As Mike Saccone of The Grand Junction Sentinel writes in his “Political Notebook”:

As nearly every major political figure in Colorado sounded off Thursday on the Bureau of Land Management’s decision to disregard Gov. Bill Ritter’s widely praised plan to develop the Roan Plateau, Senate candidate Bob Schaffer as silent on the issue.

Multiple messages Political Notebook left with Schaffer’s chief campaign adviser, Dick Wadhams, have gone unanswered…

…We have written before, Schaffer’s silence has been a largely strategic coup for Schaffer. In October, we wrote: “For Schaffer and the GOP, his silence is – to use a tried and tired cliche – golden. Schaffer’s silence while he works to build up his base ahead of what is certain to be an intensely competitive contest should be frustrating for Democrats and political reporters. Nonetheless, it’s a good idea if you want to keep free from early inning errors.”

That said, the November election is less than nine months away. … We’ll leave it to others to say when Schaffer’s silence becomes a liability, but at some point the silence will wear thin, if not on the public than on the press.

We’re not knocking the strategy here. When you’re the 14th most conservative congressman of the past 70 years in a state that has elected moderates in each of the past two elections, it certainly doesn’t help to speak out about anything. But Saccone’s point at the end is sound: “At some point the silence will wear thin, if not on the public than on the press.”

Schaffer campaign manager/czar Dick Wadhams  has used the silent treatment before in statewide races in Colorado (see: Allard, Wayne), but the dawn of online media makes it harder to do that in 2008. This strategy is probably fine for now, so long as the media doesn’t start really focusing on the fact that Schaffer isn’t saying anything. But at some point, Schaffer is going to have to choose between staying silent and being labeled as someone who won’t stand up for his beliefs.