March 12, 2011 12:35 AM UTC

Hancock Points Finger at Romer for...Pointing Fingers

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• by: Colorado Pols

Folks, we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: negative campaigns generally influence voters in more ways than the electorate is willing to admit. Voters say they don’t like the mudslinging, but they unfailingly admit in polls and focus group that it does work.

Mayoral candidate Michael Hancock wants to make an issue out of it, however:

Denver mayoral candidate Michael Hancock today challenged fellow candidate Chris Romer to stop planning for a negative political campaign and instead promise voters he will run the kind of clean campaign Denver voters expect and deserve.

Romer’s campaign has hired a Tennessee-based research company, and this week an opposition research consultant for the company requested government records for Councilman Hancock and Councilwoman Carol Boigon, who also is running for mayor.

If your opponent looks like he may possibly be digging up dirt on you, it’s never a good idea to call attention to it via press release. All this does is make reporters wonder what it is that Romer might be looking for. Hancock is clearly trying to paint Romer as a negative campaigner, but is that really worth the downside to such an approach?

The other problem with a press release like this is the unspoken message that it sends. Calling attention to something that Chris Romer’s campaign might be doing tends to give off the impression that you think Romer is the frontrunner. After all, nobody takes wild swings at opponents who are behind them.