Get The Public Focused on the Issues

Will 2010 voters recall cloture vote? Not if GOP can help it
By: Hugh Hewitt
Examiner Columnist
October 13, 2009

Turning the Saturday mic over to LeMieux is just the latest evidence the GOP national leadership doesn't understand the seriousness of the vote ahead and the urgent necessity of conveying to the public that the Senate's cloture vote -- the vote on whether to end debate, which requires 60 ayes to pass -- is everything in this struggle to preserve American medicine. They don't get the first thing about how to encourage the public, which is already against Obamacare, to communicate that opposition effectively.

If media explosives had been the objective, give the ball to Sarah Palin and let the cameras roll.

Even a few years ago, before the rise of new media, Beltway types could be forgiven for their condescension concerning the great masses of American voters. Sophisticated consultants and long-serving incumbents could tut-tut about the public never understanding what a cloture vote meant.

But they understand now, or could, if their attention was focused on this looming key vote. Getting the public focused on the vote and its importance is possible, but it will take real effort and a sustained, consistently delivered message made by effective spokesmen to whom the mainstream media and new media alike will pay at least some attention.

And that will require a GOP that is serious about communicating every day, including Saturday.

Examiner Columnist Hugh Hewitt is a law professor at Chapman University Law School and a nationally syndicated radio talk show host who blogs daily at HughHewitt.com.