Your No Challenge for the Champ!

Most incumbents have an overwhelming advantage against their opponents. This is because incumbents tend to have greater name recognition, more money, campaign organization, voter support, experience, resources, and “friends in high places” (Herrnson 206). Consequently, challengers struggle to compete. Although, challengers are at a disadvantage that does not mean there is no chance at victory. A strong challenger who knows how to campaign correctly has the opportunity to win if the incumbent makes a mistake or the national conditions are in the challenger’s favor. However, Jerry Labriola is not a strong challenger (Herrnson 211). He does not have the political experience, voter support or campaign organization needed to come close to incumbent Rosa DeLauro.

It is no surprise that a Republican challenger running against a Democratic incumbent would be at a disadvantage; however being the underdog does not mean victory is impossible. A strong challenger who knows how to campaign can increase his or her chances at keeping up with the incumbent. Challenger Jerry Labriola does not fit the profile of a strong opponent. Although Labriola has professional experience in law, he greatly lacks any political experience. Most challengers with political experience have the ability to think strategically. Thinking strategically means using political information and data to make critical campaigning decisions. I believe that Labriola’s lack of political knowledge has greatly prevented him from making wise choices (Herrnson 34). Another more devastating strike against Labriola is his lack of voter support. The majority of the voters in the third district of Connecticut supports Rosa DeLauro and lacks any strong knowledge of Labriola. “Familiarity breeds content”, the voters are familiar with DeLauro so they are content and do not have any need to replace her. Finally, the greatest disadvantage that prevents Labriola from being a strong challenger is his inability to raise enough funds. Labriola has failed to gather a significant amount of funds. As stated in my previous blog, “Financing a Political Campaign”, Labriola has only managed to raise $108,344 compared to DeLauro’s $898,214. DeLauro has managed to gather a great amount of wealth over the years; something Labriola has not had the privilege of doing.

Also if Jerry Labriola was a better challenger he would have taken advantage of the current national conditions. Right now the economy is making little progress; many people have been laid off from their jobs; and we are in the middle of what some believe is an unwinnable war against terrorism. And who is blame? According to many Republicans that would be the Democrats. Consequently, it would be beneficial if Republican Jerry Labriola took advantage of this idea and blame Rosa DeLauro for helping the Democrats cause many of the problems the country is facing. Although I still do not believe Labriola would have a fight chance against the undefeatable incumbent, I do believe that he could have at least caused her popularity to decline slightly. Maybe instead of having a 99.9% chance at victory, DeLauro’s chances at victory can decrease to 97% (FiveThirtyEight.com).

All in all, Labriola is not a strong enough challenger for DeLauro.