Hey Mandela. You want this job? You want change to happen? Fight for it.

You've probably seen this ad a few times on TV or youTube in recent weeks.

I find myself rolling my eyes at this ad, and Cap Times Opinion editor Steve Elbow said his "head nearly exploded" when it came on. Elbow is seeing the Mandela Barnes campaign using a dumb strategy that hurt his chances (and the chances for other Dems) in September.

We're 39 days from the election, and Barnes is still introducing us to his family and doing everything he can to reassure white voters that he isn't a dangerous Black man.

Meanwhile Ron Johnson and his allies are running a series of blistering and blatantly racist ads that depict Barnes as someone who, among other things, puts murders and rapists on the street. And they're working.

We should have learned this by now: If you're a Democrat running for office, don't let Republicans define you. Especially if that Republican is Ron Johnson, who won his Senate seat by beating one of the most competent, dedicated and intelligent senators on Capitol Hill — to the everlasting shame of Wisconsin. And he did it twice, ending Russ Feingold's political career.

I completely agree with this. The positive, introductory stuff should have used to insulate Barnes from the racist garbage that we all knew would be coming from Ron Johnson and other GOPs after the primary, because RoJo can't win this race on his horrible record and out-of-touch positions. It doesn't do anything now. But that phase of messaging should have ended around Labor Day.

If low-info voters haven't cemented a positive image of Barnes by early September, there is little in the last 8 weeks of campaigning that will do that. What can be done is to make those voters say "HELL NO" when it comes to giving Ron Johnson a third term, and Elbow doesn't understand why the Barnes campaign isn't making this election a referendum on the 12-year incumbent who can't stop saying and doing stupid/crooked things.

...[Barnes] just takes it on the chin and goes on the defensive.

Isn't it time for Barnes to take the fight to Johnson? With all the idiotic, self-serving and cruel things Johnson's said and done, Barnes should have plenty to work with.

For example, here's a layup message that I don't see the Barnes folks blasting out, where Ron Johnson was one of 25 GOP Senators that voted against the continuing resolution to avoid funding the government past Friday.

Also voting “no” was Ron Johnson, who was fine with shutting down the government on top of not funding disaster relief. #wisen #wiunion #wipolitics https://t.co/msgcSMKAvm

— JakeEdwards (@JakeMadtown) September 30, 2022

Does the Barnes campaign understand that media won't amplify a message you want if you don't run ads on it, or hammer it in every message and appearance? They need to, and NOW. Also, why isn't Mandela running as a vessel of change and improvement? Among general voters, Barnes needs to stop putting his face and personality in the center of his campaign.

PoliSci professor and strategist Rachel Bitecofer's central thesis has been that most elections in this era are decided by "negative partisanship", where voters make their decision based on the outcome they cannot accept. Republicans understand this concept, especially with a candidate as unliked and unpopular as Johnson, so they attack, lie and spin about Dem candidates to make them unacceptable.

Example of R "persuasion" pic.twitter.com/RLqgo08q8r

— Rachel Bitecofer 📈🔭🇺🇲🇺🇦 (@RachelBitecofer) September 30, 2022

With that in mind, Barnes' ads and messages should emphasize that the Senate cannot get better as long as Ron Johnson is in it. Make voters understand that Ron Johnson will waste time on stupid garbage like Hunter Biden's laptop (the "Benghazi!" of the early 2020s for Republicans), and won't do anything to stop gun violence or to end the slanted economy that pays off big for Ron Johnson's donors, at the expense of everyone else.

Dick & Liz Uihlein of packaging giant Uline, along with roofing magnate Diane Hendricks, contributed around $20M to groups backing Sen. Ron Johnson’s campaign.
The expanded tax break Johnson muscled through netted them $215M in deductions in 2018 alone. https://t.co/xq10nmZb6i

— ProPublica (@propublica) January 20, 2022

What's odd is that Barnes seems to understand this concept, which explains this recent social media ad with fellow Lieutenant Governor/Senate candidate John Fetterman of Pennsylania.

Last time I checked, Barnes came before Fetterman on the Senate roll call…but we’ll figure it out when we get there, @JohnFetterman. Can’t wait to be the 51st and 52nd votes we need to make real change for working people.

Help us get it done: https://t.co/chve9jhGfV pic.twitter.com/yIMif12qCp

— Mandela Barnes (@TheOtherMandela) September 15, 2022

Why not have this idea be central to the last month of the campaign? (along with the point that Ron Johnson is a crooked, clueless POS who doesn't give a f**k about you or 99% of other Wisconsinites). "If you elect me, I'll make the Senate work where 50 votes gets things done, we'll stop gerrymandering and take money out of politics, and we will reign in an out-of-control Supreme Court and restore Roe v. Wade as law of the land."

Stop running a primary campaign geared toward high-info voters who made up their minds long ago. Run the campaign that'll make voters demand change and progress, and make them know the only way that happens is by booting out Russian Ron Johnson and the GOP scum that are holding us back in both Wisconsin, and in America.

And if that isn't enough for the Barnes folks to understand, then he needs to know that if he fails to remove Ron Johnson and stop the embarrassment so many of us feel from having that lowlife "represent" Wisconsin in the Senate, then Mandela Barnes is done as a statewide candidate. He and the rest of his campaign will not be forgiven if they blow this.

So my message to Team Mandela is - don't blow it. Fight like your career is on the line, and that you will not allow yourselves to lose in November, or be able to endure the aftermath. Because many of us will not be invested in the future of Wisconsin if things go the wrong way.