Important headlines for June 1st – Boycott Backfire? Did Publix & Putnam come out on top?
Bottom Line: These are stories you shouldn't miss and my takes on them...
BACKFIRE: Parkland Activist's Boycott Of Publix Does Not Go As Planned – Daily Wire
Excerpt: A recent boycott launched by Parkland gun control activist David Hogg successfully pressured a Florida-based grocery store chain to halt its political donations to NRA-backed politicians, but his pressure tactics had an unexpected side effect: the company has decided to end all political contributions, including to Democratic politicians that oppose the NRA.
Publix, the grocery store chain, had donated heavily to Republican Adam Putnam, who is a staunch NRA supporter, but the chain also donated to at least two dozen candidates for federal office who opposed the NRA. The Washington Times reports that the company has given over $760,000 to Democratic candidates since 2008 that oppose the NRA:
They include multiple members of the Black Congressional Caucus, former Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Patty Murray of Washington, Bill Nelson of Florida, and Ron Wyden of Oregon...
...[they] also chipped in for presidential candidates former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernard Sanders in 2016, as well as then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2008.
Florida Today, which is part of the USA Today Network, reported that one of the biggest winners to come out of Hogg's boycott is Putnam — the very candidate that he sought to destroy:
It's hard to calculate the media exposure, statewide and nationally, that came his campaign's way. If you didn't know anything about him before, you probably know more about him now. If anything else, out of allegiance to Publix, Putnam's campaign likely will be goosed some because of the controversy.
Hot Take: And there it is with an additional point I hadn't considered about Putnam. More on that in a moment but first... As I citied immediately after the initial hit pieces published by the Tampa Bay Times and the Sun Sentinel – that they conveniently omitted... Not only did Publix donate to Democrats... They'd actually donated nearly 40% more to Democrats than Republicans in the 2018 cycle. In sheer dollar terms if that pace held Democrats would come out the bigger losers in the Publix fiasco. But then there's the added dynamic cited in the article. Did the publicity Putnam gain by this stunt actually help him?
The first point generally that's worth discussing is a boycott effort of Florida's largest employer and most admired businesses. Ask the average Floridian which they have a more favorable opinion of...Publix or David Hogg. I'd bet every penny to my name on the outcome of that survey. Even for those who otherwise might agree with Hogg's gun control message a "die-in" protest at Publix is the type of activity people might expect at Haight – Ashbury. Not in the considerably less radical community of Parkland in the considerably more conservative state of Florida. But back to Putnam. He's the ultimate political anomaly. He's won two state-wide elections by 18 points each time and with nearly 60% of the vote. His name is on every gas pump in the state and yet his name recognition was only 33% with likely voters sampled in February. How does that happen? Anyway, to that end it makes sense. Especially in the first election he has to win. The primary.
Until Monday...