Republican candidate Jim Gilmore is fed up with the media, and with a mailer sent directly to New Hampshire voters beginning last week, he hopes to bypass the “organized establishment” that has ignored his long-shot campaign.
“Don’t let the media tell you to vote for a less qualified candidate,” Gilmore warns in his mailer.
After participating in the undercard event at the first debate in August, Gilmore, a former governor of Virginia, was barred from appearing in any of the following debates because his poll numbers were too low. That changed last week, when he earned 1 percent in a recent poll, barely clearing the hurdle to make the undercard stage.
Though private companies usually conduct the major polls that networks use to set requirements for qualifying for debates, the polls are often published with the name of the news organizations sponsoring the poll. Gilmore sees the media’s role in the polling process, as well as dedicated coverage to front-runner candidates like Donald Trump as an underhanded plot to influence which candidates voters should support.
The words “We are living in DANGEROUS times,” appears above an image of Islamic State warriors brandishing rifles in the mailer. “Don’t let the media and their pollsters keep you from voting for the candidate who will protect you and your family.”
Gilmore is a former Army intelligence agent, making him the only veteran left in the 2016 contest for the White House. He also chaired a Congressional Advisory Panel on Terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction that warned before the 9/11 terrorist attacks about the dangers of domestic attacks on the U.S.
Beneath images of journalists from MSNBC, Fox News and CNN, Gilmore explains “The media, through its selective polling and debates, is trying to tell you who to vote for in New Hampshire’s Republican Primary by only covering some candidates.”
“They want to pick our nominee instead of letting you decide,” Gilmore said. “They are attempting to take away your opportunity to vote for the candidate most qualified to keep you and your family safe.”
Choosing to bypass Iowa’s caucuses on Monday, Gilmore is focusing on New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary on Feb. 9.
The attention to the Granite State is part of a “focus on states where voters make their choice through primaries” where secret ballots are cast, as per a typical general election, Gilmore campaign spokesman Dick Leggitt said in a recent email to the Washington Examiner.
This contrasts with a caucus, where in local gatherings across the state, voters get together to pick a candidate to support and then designate delegates for the conventions.
Leggitt said the campaign will continue the mail program in other primary states in the near future.
