![[Matter Header Twitter.png]] Turns out, actual campaigning by James Talarico (and doing smart stuff like making the campaign Tee-vee ready at all times) beats [[Three things we're watching in '26#^e525d8|attention-based campaigning]] by Jasmine Crockett. A couple of our favorite pundit reactions: [[Jonah Goldberg]], on the "Johnny Bravo" nature of Talarico's candidacy (not the cartoon character; the auto-tuned, lip-synched singer from the *Brady Bunch* that anyone can play, so long as they fit in the suit): > A Presbyterian seminarian who speaks the language of Christianity fluently, (Talarico) beat Crockett in the primary for a number of reasons... But one of them was the idea that he could appeal to white Christian voters who typically vote Republican. >...he’s essentially a Bernie Bro populist with a Texas twang and more Bible verses on economic issues and a Tim Walz manqué on most cultural issues... Talarico believes there are “[six sexes](https://nypost.com/2021/04/26/texas-lawmaker-sparks-backlash-for-arguing-there-are-six-sexes/).” He’s resolutely pro-choice, saying that “[creation has to be done with consent](https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/16/james-talarico-texas-senate-democrat-religion-christianity-viral/).” “[God is nonbinary](https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/south-texas-el-paso/news/2026/03/06/talarico-became-famous-with-viral-videos--can-republicans-turn-that-against-him-),” he once insisted... He’s for a kind of watered-down version of Medicare for All. In short, he talks right but thinks wrong—at least for a lot of voters. And this thread by [[Megan McCardle]]. ![[Megan McArdle - Educated Dems keep f...]] ![[Act Normal South Park.png]] We agree: Democrats tend to fall in love with the idea of who will appeal to a normal Bubba American male (or female). But they have a sustained track record of getting it wrong. The Good Christian would-be savior of the Texas Democratic party has some theological positions to the left of the average American agnostic; let alone Southern Baptist. ###### Of course, [NRSC responded to the win with an (acknowledged) AI hit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIDhhVah4xE)). This isn't really watchable by a broad audience, and it's obviously fake; but an interesting application nonetheless: Which is why the [rolling oppo dump](https://nypost.com/2026/03/18/media/james-talarico-confronted-on-past-tweets-accusing-white-people-of-spreading-virus-of-racism/) on Talarico that began not 10 minutes from his declared victory is smart and necessary for Republicans. First, make him weird; whether he's in favor of single-payer health care or not. The latter is par for the course for a Democrat. The former is shorthand for anyone to whom I feel vaguely uncomfortable trusting with my vote. "God is not binary" is hard to forget, and a weird thing to say outside of, well, a progressive seminary. Here's the rub on Johnny Bravos ("*let's make a star out of whoever can fit in the suit*"): Ideological comportment with the electorate a candidate seeks to represent is a plus, but not dispositive. Proving to be a *cultural* *fake* is deadly. Which is a more polite phrasing of "*he's just weird.*" ![[Side_Eyeing_Chloe.jpg]] ##### A new campaign reality: Weirdness = the potential for virality; liability or not By weird, we mean incongruous with expectations. Which makes any public figure harder to trust through a screen, no matter how well presented. Visual or characterological inconsistencies compound to say one clear thing about a person across the short snippets of time a truly persuadable voter are exposed to them: *he or she cannot be who they say they are.* Take Tim Walz' whole affect. He really is a National Guard vet, a hunter, a football coach. He's also as left-wing as Nancy Pelosi, sometimes makes jazz hands, and makes excuses for cultural positions not common to midwestern vets, hunters, and football coaches. It doesn't make sense. It took a bit of exposure to a national electorate, but it caught up to him, and probably cost him a shot at a third term in Minnesota. Or John Kerry: he *was* an effete windsurfer married to an heiress, nominated just as the GOP loosened Democrats' New Deal chokehold on the white working class. He didn't try to be other than that, and it didn't kill him. He *did* try to wave the bloody shirt from Vietnam, after making a legitimate show of throwing his medals away. Centralizing your war record as core ethos for your presidential ambitions thereafter... is weird. Have it one way! As political horseflesh, we'd rather take, say; an effete non-veteran. Maybe one with dark skin and a goofy Muslim name; with a decidedly progressive past... but who otherwise seems cool, smart and collected. Less weird, if not less unique. Amy McGrath, the woman assumed to be Kentucky's McConnell-killer... didn't pan out. The definition of good on paper; we worked against her in her initial (failed) US House race - where it was surprising to learn she was straight. Because she presented visually as... not. So everything about her looked a little try hard; especially her attempts at ideological moderation. Pete Buttigieg might have a similar problem in reverse. ![[Don't Be Weird.jpg|400]] ###### Interestingly, it's harder to think of high-profile Republicans with the same problem. Which probably says something about the center of gravity of American culture we can't quite put a finger on. Kelly Loeffler comes to mind - no woman in the Atlanta with that much hair and that much money goes around in a baseball cap everywhere. It was just weird. And you know what else is weird? [[An Evolving Collection of Politicians Pointing at Jobs and Leadership|Standing around in a hard hat with a group of people, pointing at things.]] Don't do it; or other things only weird, fake politicians do. ##### Not being weird is far more about culture than policy in the age of [[post literate politics|post literate politics.]] [[The lesson of 'Call Her Daddy' - authenticity equals vitality.|Authenticity equals vitality]] - but once a brand is established; not being weird has electoral benefits. IA Gov candidate Rob Sand may show something of the way - everyone in the know in Iowa will tell you he's to the left of how he presents, but he's won statewide before and his language doesn't seem to be masking anything. [Friend of the Matter, Adam Wren, reporting from Iowa](https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/21/iowa-democrats-rob-sand-midterms-hunting-00837624) >>Sand doesn't run from some of his more liberal views. But like many other Democrats running this year, he's banking that his local cultural cred will make him tougher for Republicans to caricature as a not-like-us coastal outsider. The day the expo kicked off, the avid bow hunter and fisherman's campaign launched a "[Hunting With Rob](https://www.huntingwithrob.com/)" microsite that extolls the rugged Iowa way of life. "For the first time in Iowa history, hunters, sportsmen, conservationists, and outdoor enthusiasts alike will finally have an ally in the governor's office," it reads. FWIW, Sand so far doesn't register on the "weird-o-meter" for public presentation, and he doesn't exactly look the part of the slick politician. We'll see. PA Gov Josh Shapiro, member of a religious minority who keeps kosher; he fully owns his identity as such. And he is otherwise married to his high school sweetheart and by all accounts an actual sports fan. Unique but not weird, and over-performant in polls. Or take Senators Mark Kelly and Raphael Warnock, two popular Senators holding seats in the swingiest of swing states, both of which with a mean cultural-red streak. Neither breaks a mold; they fit a mold; consistent with cultural expectations. Mark Kelly is a legitimate navy dude, an astronaut, and a motorcycle guy. He doesn't seem terribly weird; but he also never set out to have a career in elected office. Nothing about Kelly says "I'm faking this," including his relatively moderate voting record. His AZ colleague Ruben Gallego, similarly. He's a blunt talking, non-woke Hispanic dude. Push comes to shove, though; we bet they'd all vote for single payer health care. ![[Non-Weird Democrats.png]] ##### Warnock speaks the language of the southern black Gospel preacher in a way that will never feel woke the way a Presbyterian Seminarian like Talarico will or does. Anyone who's ever been in a real Baptist church, and anyone who's ever been in a real PCUSA church in the last ten years can tell you; it's hard to imagine they are reading the same Bibles. Most swing voters aren't in either type of church on any Sunday morning though; and if they're in Texas; there's no slim chance the Hispanic proportion are hearing a Catholic homily. All to say: when people broadly unfamiliar with Christianity say of a Talarico "he's a Christian, he must fit the suit," it reminds us of Anglo ad makers saying "get this spot in Spanish" with no consideration as to whether the listening audience is primarily Guatemalan, Mexican, Cuban or otherwise. Which is like airing a soup ad about "wicked chowdah" in Texas. Weird. *Seeing the subtle but important distinctions in culture that matter* - it's a pretty tidy way to sum up the job of a political professional in charge of presenting a candidate. Hence the appropriately gray line between [[Recruiting... or Casting]]. But most Democratic operatives don't hunt, go to church, or spend time on construction sites hearing what normal guys think of being "Latinx." Republicans hang in more races because of it. For now.