I was watching the Oprah Winfrey show the other day. (This isn't a regular habit of mine, but it is a regular habit of my tutoring student's mother, who keeps the television on all the time.) What caught my attention was not the angel-faced ten-year-old from America's Got Talent singing "Pie Jesu" but the ads, and the sense of relief I felt when a car commercial came on. Finally, a break from Frank Caprio, Lincoln Chafee '75 P'14 and John Robitaille!
Maybe it's an influx of outside money, funneled in to sway the massively important Rhode Island elections. Then again, maybe not. Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission aside, it would seem that the wave of negative campaigning that has characterized this polarized election season across the country has crashed on our fair state's shores.
Full disclosure: I don't follow Rhode Island politics, since I don't vote here. As someone who knows little or nothing about the gubernatorial candidates, I am ripe to have my perceptions shaped by the barrage of ads in between Oprah segments. Let's see how they measure up.
1. The Democrat. Caprio's slogan is "A Governor Who Gets It." According to his attack ads, Chafee "just doesn't get it," which causes various Rhode Islanders to put their heads in their hands. He even wants to raise taxes on medication. For shame, Lincoln Chafee.
Judging solely by these commercials, Caprio's economic plan appears to consist of repeating the words "small businesses" and "create jobs" over and over again until something happens. Also, he was endorsed by Bill Clinton and he loves talking with construction workers and short-order cooks.
2. The Independent. Now I actually do know a bit about Chafee, since he was a fellow at the Watson Institute and, prior to that, was one of the few Republican moderates in the Senate before being voted out in the 2006 election. What else did I learn about Chafee from his ads? I learned that Frank Caprio voted to raise taxes in the State Legislature. He even raised taxes on medication. For shame, Frank Caprio.
I also learned that Frank Caprio is guilty of cronyism, nepotism and pay-to-play. And I learned that Frank Caprio is "relentless" in putting out attack ads.
3. The Republican. Wait, there's a Republican in this race? Why yes, yes there is, though you might not know it from listening to Caprio or Chafee. And he wants to you to know that his opponents are using attack ads to hide their terrible, evil records. But he would never do such a thing. Robitaille wants to take Rhode Island in a "bold new direction" by, among other things, working to create new jobs. Incidentally, that's just the direction his opponents want to go in as well (even if Caprio mostly wants to create jobs for his family members).
However, unlike his opponents, Robitaille is not a career politician. Let's make that very clear. In case you forget it, he will repeat it every ten seconds.
In the television ad wars, poor Robitaille appears to be as significant as a flea pestering two big dogs fighting over a bone. At least no one has accused him of trying to raise taxes on medication. But this week, Caprio launched his first print attacks against Robitaille after a National Republican Congressional Committee poll showed the two in a dead heat. (Polls not sponsored by the GOP tend to show Robitaille much farther behind, but that has not stopped Caprio.)
The main policy difference I was able to discern was that Robitaille wants to cut property taxes, Caprio wants to keep taxes where they are and Chafee wants a 1 percent tax on currently exempted items. It's not exactly the stuff of riveting political drama, so their attempts to spice it up are understandable, but with all the time they spend casting aspersions on one another, none of them end up looking all that trustworthy.
As your Average Uninformed Oprah-Watching Voter, I can't say that I found any of these ads to be particularly enlightening. Maybe it's not fair to expect any level of nuance from 30 seconds of handshakes, slogans and blazer-less collared shirts. But if voters are truly sick of politics as usual this season, how is watching a rich white guy promise that he's going to create jobs and get Rhode Island back on track going to convince anyone?
Former Herald Opinions Editor Sarah Rosenthal '11 thinks that Chevrolet should put out attack ads against Toyota.
