Brown campaign stuck in a ditch on the side of the road

By Chuck Muth

Houston, we have a problem.

All polls in the presidential race in Nevada show Trump and Kamala in a dead heat. But all of those same polls show Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sam Brown trailing incumbent Democrat Sen. Jacky Rosen by significant margins.

Why?

I mean, after all, Catherine Cortez Masto only beat Adam Laxalt two years ago by fewer than 8,000 votes. And Masto is clearly a stronger candidate than Rosen. So what’s the problem with Brown?

Defenders will say it’s the money. It’s not. It’s the campaign.

“I can’t figure out what his platform is,” a conservative Republican elected official wrote to me yesterday. “What does he stand for except ‘I got wounded in Afghanistan’? Frankly, I’m tired of hearing about it. I’m all in for Janine Hansen.”

Ouch.

Hansen is the Independent American Party (IAP) candidate in the race.

For a deeper look at the problem, here’s an NBC News report from Friday…

(Sam) Brown has lagged behind (Donald) Trump in most public polling. A recent survey from the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter found Brown particularly underperforming Trump among Latinos and independents. …

Some Republicans are concerned it may be too late for Brown to close that gap.

“It’s a massively missed opportunity,” said one Nevada Republican operative who requested anonymity to speak candidly about party strategy.

“The issue set was there. An unknown candidate was there,” the operative said, referring to Rosen. “Trump’s obviously polling very strongly here, he may win it. And meanwhile you have a Senate candidate that’s polling way outside of that presidential race. And that’s just the byproduct of a bad campaign.”

The operative suggested that Brown’s campaign has not been active enough on the campaign trail, and he has been unable to combat the barrage of Democratic attacks by earning free media attention on his own.

Brown did not have any public campaign events this week ahead of Trump’s rally in Reno on Friday, which Brown is expected to attend. The campaign did not make Brown available for an interview, despite multiple requests.

Did not make Brown available for an interview? Seriously?

He’s a challenger candidate running against a well-funded incumbent. He should be doing every free media interview he can… even with liberal Jerky McJerkface Jon Ralston.

Dear Republicans: You can’t whine about Kamala Harris not doing media interviews when your own candidates aren’t doing them either. That’s called… hypocritical.

In addition, the Rosen campaign uses free social media to pound Sam multiple times every day. Team Brown’s response: Crickets.

Republicans never blow an opportunity to blow an opportunity. And it seems the Brown campaign is working hard to keep that record intact. Ahhh, what might have been.

#Sad.

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Chuck Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, publisher of Nevada News & Views, and founder of CampaignDoctor.com. You can sign up for his conservative, Nevada-focused e-newsletter at MuthsTruths.com. His views are his own.