Pennsylvania Republican's 'weird campaign' has' a whiff of political malpractice': CNN analyst

Scrutinizing the campaign being waged by GOP lawmaker Doug Mastriano as he attempts to become the next governor of Pennsylvania, CNN political analyst Chris Cillizza suggested that it may end up being a template for running a low-cost, highly-targeted effort to win, or an example of how to run your campaign into the ground.

For the time, being, Cillizza is calling it "weird."

As the longtime political observer noted, the Donald Trump-backed Mastriano who attended the Jan 6 insurrection that the former president incited, has eschewed interviews with traditional media sources, stayed away from voters who need convincing and -- more importantly -- has yet to spend any money on television advertising.

Pointing to a recent Philadelphia Inquirer profile which reported, "Mastriano has essentially walled himself off from the general public, traveling within a bubble of security guards and jittery aides who aim to not only keep him safe, but ensure he only comes into contact with true believers ..." before adding, " the retired Army colonel and his enforcers, at times, operate as if under siege in their home state, employing strong-arm tactics more reminiscent of authoritarian regimes," the CNN regular called Mastriano's campaign "odd."

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As Cillizza notes, Mastriano, who trails his Democratic opponent Josh Shapiro in the polls, needs swing voters if he hopes to win in November. Yet, his campaign is making no efforts to reach out beyond his base of like-minded far-right conservatives.

"Mastriano also rarely engages with any media that is not overtly friendly to him. He conducts Facebook Live events and does interviews in places like the One America News Network but simply refuses to talk to any more mainstream outlets. (Mastriano used Facebook Live to fuel his rise amid the coronavirus pandemic.)," he wrote. "As The New York Times noted last month: '[Mastriano] employs political neophytes in key positions and has for months refused to interact with mainstream national and local reporters beyond expelling them from events.'"

Writing, "It's hard to overstate what a gamble such a strategy represents," the CNN analyst continued, "Sticking to your beliefs is one thing. Making zero attempt to grow your voter coalition -- especially in a state where the GOP base is not even close to a majority (Pennsylvania isn't Idaho after all) -- has the whiff of political malpractice."

Cillizza did concede that the conservative Mastriano may be on to something, which remains to be seen, suggesting, "It's possible, of course, that Mastriano knows something that the rest of the political world doesn't. That the guarded, insular and entirely base-focused campaign he is running will work. But, if it does, it would represent a drastic change from how campaigns have been run since, well, there have been political campaigns."

You can read his whole analysis here.