The Congressman had a couple of cringe-worthy gaffes at yesterday's debate. Here he more or less says that his job is to work on Defense issues:
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Earlier in the debate, under questioning from the Star's Timm Herdt about the nuclear cleanup site in Simi's Santa Susana mountains, he had another "Huh?!?" moment. McKeon admitted he didn't know much about the present state of the Rocketdyne site but said essentially that he's the absolute best possible man to clean the site up. The odd comment elicited some chuckles and shrugs from the audience and I think I even heard Herdt let go with a long "Ohhhhkay."
Of course a poor debate performance in front of informed voters is one thing. He may have had a bad day yesterday, but so what?
He held another town hall call last evening, and I was lucky enough to get the call and listen in for about 40 minutes. The man can charm voters over the phone, and his voice is warm and his manner is personable. It's like talking to your grandpa.
Some of these callers were what I'd tag as "low-information voters" (that's the hot new term in use in 2012), with one even asking why Congress couldn't give pay-raises to the middle class like it gave a payraise to itself in the mid 80s. Another caller kept insisting he was an opponent of the 2nd Amendment, and wanted to know what Buck could do about the state's highly-restrictive gun laws. Buck had to gently correct him and tell him that he was actually a proponent of the 2nd Amendment.
Other voters were quite well-informed, at least on the issues they cared about. Many were concerned about military cuts, and McKeon exploited this issue fully, laying the entire blame on the President.
At least one caller went all talk-radio on Buck McKeon, ranting for several minutes about a liberal caller from Palmdale and how much she enraged him. Buck had some chuckles as the caller went on, tossed in some, "Yeah I know what you mean" and such. It was like a segment on KFI.
The point is, this format makes for good copy. Or good radio. I'm not sure how one would classify this type of campaigning, but it's definitely effective. The Signal in the past reported that these teletown hall conference calls reach a thousand or more homes. Only a fraction participate and actually ask the Congressman a question, but it's interesting to listen in while a Congressman personally addresses people in your community and answers their questions.
It's a powerful and and probably cost-effective tool -even more so in an election season-, and it's something a challenger like Lee Rogers wouldn't be able to do easily.
Of course, Rogers has been driving his Chevy Volt all over the district visiting clubs, groups and events. He's had much more face time with District voters than McKeon has.
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