To bloggers, that is. The Harris campaign hosted another conference call last night with Missouri bloggers. I don’t think any bombshells came out of the call. As one could expect, Harris was upbeat about the campaign in general and listed off a number of impressive recent endorsements and fundraising figures. He was restrained and respectful when talking about his primary opponents, as well, only mentioning Koster and Donnelly briefly when talking about fundraising.
I asked Harris two questions. He semi-dodged the first one, and to the second he gave a surprising answer. The first question was about the use of “New Media” in his campaign. Given his greater emphasis on blogger outreach than any other statewide campaign in Missouri, what approach was he taking to other forms of “New Media”, like Facebook, Myspace, text messaging, etc.? He gave a generic answer that among other things, his team would continue to be creative. I would have loved to have gotten more specifics, but the answer didn’t disappoint all that much. I mean, candidates don’t always have every specific detail about campaign statistics and strategy at their fingertips, and frankly, if Jeff Harris can rattle off the ins and outs of Facebook and Myspace, it would probably creep me out a little bit.
The second question I asked dealt with Harris’ experience as a legislator and how it might affect him as an AG. Here I thought he might give us some pablum about being closer to the people by his constant campaigning or superior constituent services or whatever. But his answer was pretty thoughtful – knowing the legislative process thoroughly would make him a better AG, because the AG’s office works closely with the legislature to make its job easier, whether it’s closing loopholes in current law or increasing funding to his office for better enforcement. It’s a wonky answer, but Jeff strikes me as a wonky politician.
I’ll let others chime in with their takes on the conversation, rather than bore everybody with a blow-by-blow.
Jeff’s work on trying to give communities control over CAFOs that try to locate in their area, and I’m impressed with how accessible he is. If I need to get in touch with him, I can count on him getting back to me quickly. To me, that’s a sign of someone who cares about people.