Vincent Sheheen’s “Great Day” Ad Misses The Mark

By FITSNEWS  ||  With less than a month to go before voters cast their ballots, S.C. Sen. Vincent Sheheen is out with a new ad mocking incumbent “Republican” Nikki Haley for her signature catch phrase – “It’s a Great Day in South Carolina.”

But does Sheheen’s spot hit the mark?  Or is it the latest in a long line of missed opportunities to take out the hypocritical, ethically challenged Haley?

Three years ago, Haley instructed state government employees to answer the phone with the expression “It’s a great day in South Carolina.”

“It’s part of who I am,” Haley said at the time. “As hokey as some people may think it is, I’m selling South Carolina as this great, new, positive state that everybody needs to look at.”

Is it a great day in South Carolina, though?  Of course not.  Despite Haley’s cheery greeting (and repeated false claims), the Palmetto State’s income levels haven’t budged, its workforce as a percentage of the population has shrunk to record lows, and it’s government-run education monopoly is still … well …

After running as a Tea Party reformer, Haley has governed as a big government crony capitalist – veering wildly to the left of the ideological spectrum.   Yet in spite of the clear failure of this approach, she continues to steadfastly advance a fiscally liberal agenda on taxes, spending, education and (most notably) government-subsidized health care.

Sheheen could have used all of that to go after Haley … perhaps even using an ad like the one he unveiled today.  Such a strategy would have made sense seeing as South Carolina is a reliably “Republican” state.

Instead, Sheheen has chosen to run the typical liberal campaign – promoting division and accusing the big government incumbent of not being “big government enough.”

Take his “Great Day” ad …

(Click to play)

(Vid: Via)

Sheheen’s campaign had the right idea to go after Haley for her ridiculous “Great Day” greeting.  It just didn’t execute the hit correctly.

Blasting Haley for “vetoing teacher pay” and “sending Medicaid dollars to other states” may well appeal to the 40 percent of South Carolina voters who are already going to vote for Sheheen, but beyond that its effectiveness is limited.  Independent voters – the ones who decide elections – are increasingly distrustful of government, and suspicious of the “more money” approach to solving our state’s chronic economic, academic and health issues.

Also, the last time we checked Haley’s vetoes were virtually nonexistent … while her Medicaid expansion was off the chain.

In other words, Sheheen’s liberal audience should love her.

If Sheheen were serious about eroding Haley’s support, this ad would have targeted the things we referenced earlier in this post – stagnant incomes, declining labor participation (across ALL demographics) and Haley’s habitual dishonesty when it come to her government-subsidized “jobs” announcements.

Such a message would not only have galvanized Sheheen’s liberal base, it would have also appealed to independent and “Republican” voters.

Seriously … it’s like this guy wants to lose this election.

RAPID REACTION

@fitsnews why should this ad be any different? Whoever is making the decisions on his ads should have been fired weeks ago.

— Elliot Echlov (@soxinsc) October 8, 2014