Truitt v. Polles

The recount is still underway in the Lafayette House race between Randy Truitt and John Polles. The recount commission is expected to announce a result on Sunday. In the initial count, Truitt held a 26 vote lead over Polles. The close margin of victory prompted a recount request. As it happens, this is my home district. I had to do a double take earlier this week when I saw Brad King from the Secretary of State’s election division eating lunch at a Lafayette restaurant.

Normally I refrain from commenting on politics in my neck of the woods — not wanting to crap in my nest, as the saying goes. But, as a citizen of the district, I think I can say this much without fouling any professional obligations. I think Polles was running an adequate campaign on his own – maybe enough to win, maybe not. However, I think the state party’s efforts on behalf of Polles were tin-eared and counterproductive. I have limited knowledge of the underlying facts, but the negative attacks on Truitt looked like stretches beyond what’s expected in political races. I know voters always say they hate negative campaigning and then, for whatever reason, the negative campaigning works. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the case here. On the eve of the election, I remember seeing a state party television commercial attacking Truitt, cringing, and telling Amy that I thought the commercial probably cost Polles some votes. Just my two cents – I have no data and for all I know, the commercial gained more votes than it cost. But, from what I could see, it didn’t look that way.