One of the side dramas of the brouhaha over the Portland GOP event was Mike Tipping’s publication of an e-mail from famed (and controversial) consultant Chris Potholm. Potholm, who was last seen in a gubernatorial campaign working for John Baldacci and attacking Chandler Woodcock, is no longer well regarded in Republican political circles (if he ever was).
This latest involvement won’t help his cause.
In the e-mail, Potholm seems to refer to Bruce Poliquin as “Pol Pot“, which is not only unfair but unfunny. Unfair because no part of the Poliquin campaign platform involves collective farms, forced labor projects, or an agrarian socialist paradise, as far as we know. We’ve also never heard Poliquin refer to Election Day as Year Zero. Unfunny because, well, seriously? Name-calling? I mean, are you a professor of political science or an eight-year-old? Plus, comparing an opponent to someone responsible for as many as 2.3 million deaths? Really?
Also, not smart. Very very not smart. If you’re going to be a wiseass, don’t write it down – make stupid jokes at staff meetings. Because when your e-mail is published on a blog, it makes you look like an idiot, and rightfully so. Of course, if you make stupid jokes at staff meetings, you have to be there when people don’t laugh.
We contacted the Otten campaign about this issue, and they had no comment. In this case, “No Comment” is deafening. If he didn’t work for the campaign, or if the e-mail was false or taken out of context, they’d say so. If he did work for the campaign and they were standing by him, they’d say so. The silence indicates that they’re waiting, to see how big a deal this becomes and whether they have to acknowledge it.
If they had a strategy, they’d have a statement.
If ever anyone was a RINO, it’s Chris Potholm. Working to elect Baldacci & King? Are you kidding me? Anyone remember when the last time was that he actually worked for a REPUBLICAN?