Rarely to I ever pick up the Denver Post, turn to Mike Littwin’s column and say, “Gee, I agree with this Left-wing, flower snuffer...” However, Friday, 23 April’s edition, Littwin got it spot-on (for once). As shocked as I am to agree with such a liberal, I am even more stunned that State Sen. Josh Penry jumped on board Jane Norton’s US Senate team as her new campaign manager. Like many politicos, I never expect the Republican’s rising star and State Senate Leader to be adding campaign manager to his répertoire.
Jane Norton scored a major bonus by tapping the name recognition, political genius, and conservative clout, along with youth and energy which comes with Josh Penry. Having Penry at the helm of the Norton campaign is tremendous for Jane. What about Josh? It seems very odd that a guy, who has served in the Colorado House of Representative and Senate, along with briefly running for Governor, would take several steps to the side and become a campaign manager for a US Senate campaign – a campaign where he himself had a very real possibility of running and being elected.
Josh Penry has created the biggest test of his political career – the discipline test – if Josh can be regimented enough to keep Jane Norton in the limelight and stay in the shadows, while leading a precisioned team, then Colorado should expect a very powerful Norton campaign which should devastate either one of the clowns who happen to emerge from the Democrat’s primary.
Littwin compared Penry’s new role to the likes of Dick Wadhams during the two victorious Allard Campaigns, however this isn’t a good analogy, as Penry has been an elected official and Wadhams has never served in a public capacity.
Being too much of a ‘frontman’ can be dangerous to a political campaign, as was seen with John Marshall’s mistake in the Walcher congressional and Beauprez gubernatorial campaigns (Marshall was quoted in the media as much as Beauprez during the 2006 cycle).
Traditionally, campaigns emphasize the candidate as presenting the positive message through the party manifesto, whereas the campaign managers’ duty was to be the attack dog as is noted by famous managers, namely Carl Rove, Steve Schmidt, and Dick Waddams. While Josh has been a marvellous quarterback (literally and politically), his new, self-created challenge, what kind of a coach will he be?
My bet, Penry will prove to be as successful a manager (coach) as a candidate (quarterback) in the political arena.
Jane Norton scored a major bonus by tapping the name recognition, political genius, and conservative clout, along with youth and energy which comes with Josh Penry. Having Penry at the helm of the Norton campaign is tremendous for Jane. What about Josh? It seems very odd that a guy, who has served in the Colorado House of Representative and Senate, along with briefly running for Governor, would take several steps to the side and become a campaign manager for a US Senate campaign – a campaign where he himself had a very real possibility of running and being elected.
Josh Penry has created the biggest test of his political career – the discipline test – if Josh can be regimented enough to keep Jane Norton in the limelight and stay in the shadows, while leading a precisioned team, then Colorado should expect a very powerful Norton campaign which should devastate either one of the clowns who happen to emerge from the Democrat’s primary.
Littwin compared Penry’s new role to the likes of Dick Wadhams during the two victorious Allard Campaigns, however this isn’t a good analogy, as Penry has been an elected official and Wadhams has never served in a public capacity.
Being too much of a ‘frontman’ can be dangerous to a political campaign, as was seen with John Marshall’s mistake in the Walcher congressional and Beauprez gubernatorial campaigns (Marshall was quoted in the media as much as Beauprez during the 2006 cycle).
Traditionally, campaigns emphasize the candidate as presenting the positive message through the party manifesto, whereas the campaign managers’ duty was to be the attack dog as is noted by famous managers, namely Carl Rove, Steve Schmidt, and Dick Waddams. While Josh has been a marvellous quarterback (literally and politically), his new, self-created challenge, what kind of a coach will he be?
My bet, Penry will prove to be as successful a manager (coach) as a candidate (quarterback) in the political arena.
