With a catchy jingle and quirky animation arriving at a computer screen near you, Dennis Rasmussen hopes to pump some energy into his U.S. Senate campaign by poking fun at the leading candidates in the race.
“Razz-Ma-Tazz,” a cartoon inspired by the popular Jib-Jab creation that mocked George Bush and John Kerry in 2004, shows Democratic Rep. Ben Cardin in coronation robes holding a sign that says “my turn” and Republican Michael Steele being pushed around by President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
A figure labeled “Maryland” sings a catchy ditty by Brent Hardesty. “With Cardin on the left, and Steele on the right, I needed someone in the middle like me,” says the refrain.
The animated clip will be e-mailed to thousands of Marylanders starting today and can also be viewed on the campaign Web site www.rasmussenforussenate.com.
“We tried to distinguish the campaign somewhat from the clutter of political races,” Rasmussen said. “We thought it would be a cost-effective way of getting our message out,” faced with two “well-financed” campaigns funded by “special interests.”
Rasmussen insists he?s the moderate alternative in the race, but it?s somewhat harder for him to articulate how his positions might differ from the front-runners.
“It?s more a mindset and an approach to governing,” he said.
Like Cardin, Rasmussen said he believes the Iraq war, which Cardin voted against, was based on false information. But like Steele, Rasmussen said he doesn?t want to “cut and run,” when the country needs three to four times as many troops on the ground to stabilize the political situation. “We don?t have an exit strategy,” he said.
Like every candidate in the race, Rasmussen favors U.S. “energy independence” and supports raising the mileage for gasoline consumption that cars and trucks must meet. But Rasmussen favors heavy federal investment in nuclear power and electric generation plants, financed by cutting subsidies to oil companies.
On immigration, Rasmussen favors “closed borders and open doors,” using both walls and technology to stop illegal crossinginto the country.
