Misguided

Politics can be viewed as a two-lane highway. Appeal to your party's base to win a primary. Then, assuming you've been successful, appeal to folks at the center - always the deciding votes in a general election. Doug Mastriano's campaign for governor has thrown out this traditional playbook.  He seems uninterested in those outside his hardcore base of supporters. A recent article from the Philadelphia Inquirer explored this theme.

As he tours the Commonwealth, Mastriano has essentially walled himself off from the general public, traveling within a bubble of security guards and jittery aides who aim to  ... keep him safe ... [and]  ensure he only comes into contact with true believers ... Republican leaders around the state had hoped that Mastriano's unorthodox campaign would evolve over the summer and begin reaching out to undecided voters. Instead ... Labor Day came and went. His slogan is 'walk as free people,' but the retired Army colonel … operates as if under siege in [his] home state, employing strong-arm tactics more reminiscent of authoritarian regimes.

In addition, Mastriano:

• rarely engages with any news service not overtly friendly to him

• does interviews only with outlets like the One America News Network

• won't talk to more mainstream outlets
  

• has for months refused to interact with national and local reporters, and has gone so far as to expel them from events

As Chris Cilliza of CNN put it, controlling Pennsylvania is a massive advantage for the party holding that power. Which makes those of us immune to Mastriano's political guano feel fairly confident. That, and the fact that Josh Shapiro continues to hold a small, but outside-the-margin-of-error lead, over the Colonel.