Joe Donnelly's Latest Stunt

Joe Donnelly's latest tv ad has garnered national attention. In the ad, Congressman Donnelly (my representative) distances himself from the "Washington leadership" and puts forth an extremely strict and xenophobic position on immigration. Donnelly is a conservative democrat, both fiscally and socially. I am not surprised that his views on immigration are draconian, simplistic, and against the best interests of many residents (immigrants and native US citizens) of his district. I am however puzzled at his apparent need to distance himself from the democratic party even further.

Congressman Donnelly is facing a challenge from the very conservative State Representative Jackie Walorski. Thus, I do not understand the making of this ad from either a philosophical or a political perspective. Philosophically, Congressman Donnelly is already far to the right of both the left-wing and the moderate contingent of the Democratic party. Politically, he will not gain many votes by emphasizing issues on which he agrees with the most conservative Republicans because conservative Republicans in the district will vote for Representative Walorski anyway. A better political strategy for Congressman Donnelly would be to emphasize issues where he disagrees with Walorski in order to mobilize voters in the Democratic base. Voters who can't see the difference between Donnelly and Walorski will be far less likely to go to the polls. Donnelly should not be so complacent as to take the voting block of left-leaning Democrats for granted.