Just wanted to make sure everyone got a chance to see Warren Tolman’s first TV ad:
Ad Transcript:
“This is where two women were gunned down at health clinics in Brookline.
So this is where I fought to pass the buffer zone law to protect women exercising their right to choose.
Now, women’s safety is being denied by the Supreme Court.
I’m Warren Tolman and as Attorney General, I’ll focus on gun violence and violence against women. I won’t wait to require fingerprint trigger locks on new guns sold. And if you endanger women at a health clinic, you’ll be prosecuted.
Brookline should never happen again.”
Please share widely!
striker57 says
To introduce or remind Massachusetts voters that Warren Tolman has been on the front lines of supporting reproductive rights and responsible gun control.
Disclaimer – you know I support Warren Tolman for AG.
JimC says
n/t
stomv says
“Brookline should never happen again” makes it sound like Brookline is a mistake, a place to be avoided. It’s the wrong message. My bet is they tried other language and couldn’t thread the needle of precise, punchy, and correct for most voters, so they simply refer to a horrible day in 1994 as “Brookline.”
JimC says
n/t
jconway says
When I say ‘Newtown’ or ‘Columbine’ do you think of the small Connecticut community or suburban Colorado high school or the tragic events that took place there? When I say ‘Waco’, do you think of the college town that holds Baylor university and the dynamic city of the Texas panhandle or the standoff between the ATF and Branch Davidians?
That said, I don’t think ‘Brookline’ has that same kind of resonance. I wasn’t aware of the incident, and it also seems an odd ad to run now that Gov. Patrick has already signed a new version of the same law. I would’ve preferred that Warren, whom I support, focus on his commitment to clean elections, consumer protection vis a vis his anti-tobacco efforts and use another incident to talk about his strong commitment to gun control. He tried to play up ‘pro-choice’ and ‘anti-gun’ with the same incident, and it works, but I am not sure if other issues are more important to emphasize.
striker57 says
The 55%+ primary voters expected to be women. Tolman needs to have a solid base among female primary voters and he’s reminding (or introducing) them to his record on reproductive right and safe access to health care.
jconway says
What often gets lost on here is that our issues may not be the issues statewide voters are tuning it to. This is definitely apparent with the Berwick campaigns limp to the finish line, it just wasn’t the year to lush single payer, and Grossman’s ads about his business record are off key to a populist electorate. Coakley comes across as a fighter in her most recent as, so does Tolman here. And, it’s an ad that will resonate with the women he can’t afford to lose to Healey.
stomv says
Newtown — I grew up 5 miles from Newtown. It has context before, and after the shooting. I don’t think of the shooting first, I think of the context.
Columbine — I think of the school shooting, because that is the entire context I have for the community.
Waco — I think of Baylor, f**king Texas heat, and a road trip. Because, again, for me it has a context far stronger than the Branch Davidians.
The ad is good, the last line stinks. If you did a “Newtown / Columbine / Waco” survey across Massachusetts, most folks would think of your points. If you did the same for Brookline, (almost) nobody would immediately and decisively tie the word to the shootings. Massachusetts is small, and lots of folks either (a) have some stronger connection to Brookline, or (b) have never heard a reference to Brookline in the same way our language can reference Newtown, Columbine, or Waco.
It’s forced, and it reduces a 60,000 person dynamic community of Massachusetts voters to a single, terrible concept. It’s an unforced error at the end of a very strategic, otherwise strong ad.
fenway49 says
but I don’t think anyone living outside Brookline (or most living within) would take umbrage.
Tolman could have said, if he could squeeze it into a short spot, “What happened in Brookline should never happen again.” But I think most people will realize that he’s using shorthand, as we now do for the examples jconway cited, particularly when he referred to the 1994 Brookline shooting in the first sentence of the ad.
If someone says, “A horrible shooting took place here in Newtown” and then, less than 30 seconds later, says “let’s make sure ‘Newtown’ never happens again,” I think people will understand what’s meant. Even someone like you who had prior mental associations with the town. Same here.
SomervilleTom says
I agree with you. I’m willing to ignore the error, because the overall message of the ad is a winner.
I think it’s also worth mentioning that the terrorist episode that happened that awful day did not happen in a vacuum. That clinic had been targeted by anti-abortion extremists for years. When it re-opened in Coolidge Corner, the same crazies harassed everyone for years there (not just the patients coming and going from the clinic). When a different clinic opened on Harvard Street a few years ago, the same offensive circus began there.
I like Mr. Tolman’s clear and unambiguous message that MANY of us, both men and women, have been fighting for women’s rights for a long time. It is not a “women’s issue”, and shouldn’t be made one for the convenience of a particular candidate’s campaign.
Christopher says
He sets up the context at the beginning so I think when he says that at the end people understand what he means.
Of course, maybe he’s telling Brookline to finally join Boston like its neighbors did:)
SomervilleTom says
I have the same reaction to “Brookline should never happen again” as stomv, and for me it doesn’t get in the way of the larger truth about the tragedy that happened there.
That was my neighborhood for twelve years. I *know* the building where the terrorism occurred. My family and friends have used that clinic. I walked by that clinic for years.
I very much like this ad’s unspoken between-the-lines reminder that gender alone does not make one candidate a more effective advocate for women than another.
Warren Tolman has been making Massachusetts safer for women his entire career. I’m glad that this ad reminds us of that.
dasox1 says
The best political maneuvering hits at your opponent’s strengths. In my view, this ad does just that. It says to Healy’s base, I’ll be better than her on the issues you care about most and here’s why. Nicely done.