In the race for governor, I keep expecting to see a bumper sticker that reads: “Be afraid. Be very afraid.”
Through the words, images and music in their speeches and ads, Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi are each working to convey more than a discomforting sense about their opponent.
Each wants you to fear the other.
Gregoire, for example, dashed through an index of Rossi’s political stances in a speech at the state Democratic Party convention and concluded if he wins Washington would be a place “none of us would want to be in.”
Rossi is forever painting a picture of a future under Gregoire as one of endless traffic jams, higher taxes and open cell doors through which violent sex offenders will walk free and live unsupervised.
It’s not just the candidates trying to scare us.
Already those merry bands of special interest surrogates collectively have dropped a cool $2 million into stoking the same anxieties.
Subtlety is no prerequisite as the Building Industry Association of Washington proves with its “Don’t Let Seattle Steal This Election” signs throughout Eastern Washington. (Guess you know where they think Gregoire picked up the 133 votes she won by in 2004.)
The factor of fear is finding its way into this Gregoire-Rossi rematch much earlier and with greater force than their first bout.
Why?
The outcome of this race will turn on what appears now to be a small percentage of legitimately undecided voters, possibly as little as 10 percent.
A common campaign tactic to win over such folks is by hitting them with the right combo in a place where they fear and react most: the amygdala.
This almond-shaped bundle of neurons lies near the center of the brain and is our automatic self-preservation system. It performs a bit like a skillful dispatcher at a massive 911 switchboard; calls of potential emergencies come in and a response is sent out.
Specifically, when we feel fear, our amygdala is working.
In politics, it is targeted as much as any demographic group because arousing fear in a voter can drive them to the polls where they will choose candidates they feel can calm their anxieties.
Not all candidates are equally skilled at tapping the circuitry of the voters’ brain to their benefit.
Sharon Begley, writing in Newsweek last December, described the challenge in the context of presidential candidates.
She wrote “the genie of fear is most effective if let out of its bottle with more finesse than by yanking off the stopper and wildly flinging the contents all over Iowa and New Hampshire.”
Candidates need a message that balances the factor of fear with a douse of optimism if not hope and inspiration, she wrote.
Thus far in our governor’s race everyone’s focus is on one half of this equation.
If and when they start completing it, there’s a spot on my bumper for another sticker.
Political reporter Jerry Cornfield’s blog, The Petri Dish, is at www.heraldnet.com. Contact him at 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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