If you’re running for U.S. Senate in Indiana, you cut a television ad of yourself coaching kids’ basketball. It’s what you do, and it is what Rep. Luke Messer just did.
The Indiana Republican released a new ad in time for March Madness, featuring children playing basketball, a high school gymnasium, and a homespun message about the importance of teamwork.
That message works with an electorate that organizes their week around Friday night basketball. It works so well that incumbent Sen. Joe Donnelly ran almost exactly that same play back in 2012 when he was first running for Senate. A variation on the Hoosiers theme, that ad also includes children, a gymnasium, and a homespun message about the importance of teamwork.
Messer and Donnelly couldn’t be much more different when it comes to policy. But it’s clear that the political minds think alike when it comes to political basketball.
If Messer wins the GOP nomination, the two coaches could square off in November.
