The Advertising Campaign Against Sam Page

The campaign was managed by one or more PAC’s that were independent of Phil Berger’s campaign.

Daily Haymaker:

Sheriffs are incredibly influential people in North Carolina’s rural communities.  People don’t know their legislators, but they DO know their sheriff.  He/she keeps them safe. They see the sheriff in the community on a daily or weekly basis.  As soon as word got around that sheriff Page might be filing against the senator, Berger’s goons began trashing Page six ways to September.  Ads and mailers filled with outrageous exaggerations and outright lies flooded Rockingham County.

Instead of making people mad at Page, it got people mad at Berger.  They’d known Page for nearly 30 years.  They knew the garbage compiled by the Raleigh lobbyists and consultants and PACs wasn’t true.  A sheriff is typically the most trusted, respected leader in a community.  A sheriff who has served three or more terms is likely loved and respected.  So, slandering the sheriff like he’s a Chapel Hill liberal is likely not a very smart move.

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6 thoughts on “The Advertising Campaign Against Sam Page”

  1. Yeah, Berger could have chosen another campaign strategy. This approach, as you say, backfired and woke up the citizens for Page.

  2. It is an encouraging phenomenon when a candidate wins who was outspent on the order of 90 to 1. The slanderous, dirty nature of Berger’s ads and the very fact that he had that kind of money (you don’t raise that kind of money without doing underhanded favors)…both leave a stain on Berger’s reputation and character.

    1. Other people did the dirty work for him, J. Sobran, because these PAC’s were independent of his own campaign. But as you point out, why would they have a motive to do this? The people of Rockingham County didn’t think it passed the smell test.

      1. Berger could have put a stop to those ads at any time instead of playing “I know nussing” Sergeant Shultz simply by condemning them. He is also very closely connected to the people putting out the ads — in fact, a Board Member of GOPAC which was responsible for many of them.

        1. W.E., I saw one or two names in connection with those PAC’s who have been tied to the state establishment GOP. As I said, I think the people of Rockingham County discerned that the person depicted in those ads was not the same Sam Page they knew.

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