Name Recognition Has Turned the Election

13 Apr, 2016 by Brent Smith

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Everyday I get an update called “Your Daily Yahoo stories” for whichever day of the week it is. Yahoo is ultra-leftist and, as do most sites like this, normally caters to the shallow. All “your daily stories” have a liberal bent and/or are typical ridiculous entertainment/celebrity memes. Toward the bottom of the page, after highlighting four or five stories they recommend, there is a top ten “Trending Now” list – a most searched list. This is invariably what you would expect – Kim Kardashian – hottest lip gloss, or whomever the latest bubble-headed star or starlet to do something stupid.

I check the list everyday to keep abreast of the idiocy. Never has anything/anyone from the right made it on the Top Ten list (I don’t count Trump), save for when one occasionally “steps in it,” so to speak.

But low and behold, I open the email of my “Top Yahoo Stories for Sunday” and number one is “Cruz completes sweep of Colorado delegates.” I think – okay – this is real progress. At least it’s not “Seventeen more Cruz Mistresses found by Trump aide.” Then I check the top ten list. Sitting at number 7 with a bullet, behind names like Meadow Walker, Kim West (don’t know either) and best swimsuits, is my man Ted Cruz.

I looked up Meadow Walker. She is the daughter of deceased actor Paul “Fast and Furious” Walker. She has a sister named Street and a brother Jay. Ha! Who says conservatives aren’t funny. Don’t answer that.

Anyway, this my friends (hat tip – John McCain) is a coup. This is what you call real progress. The Constitutional conservative, right wing nut job Ted Cruz made it to the top ten Yahoo trending list. It is a UUUGE deal and not for doing something stupid or shameless like stabbing Donald Trump (don’t panic – he didn’t stab Trump or anyone else).

What it means is Cruz is breaking through. He’s becoming “too legit to quit” (hat tip – MC Hammer). Seriously – this is a big deal considering the people that cause the “Top Ten List” to be top ten are the same ones you see in those man-on-the-street interviews, where someone sticks a microphone in some unsuspecting dope’s face and asks him or her who the Vice President is – which they can’t answer. Now these very same people are searching Ted Cruz. What they find on Yahoo is another story, but they are at least now familiar with his name and we know mere name recognition goes a long way in politics.

We see it all the time in local elections and early on in national races. It’s one of the major reasons many local politicians get elected and why many otherwise decent national candidates never make it beyond the early rounds of a primary season.

Other than insiders, ones who vote in local elections rely almost exclusively on name recognition. “Hey – it’s Joe Smith. I’ve heard of him” – and they check the box. The voter has no idea why they’ve “heard of him” – they just have and that’s good enough.

National candidates like Cruz and the socialist curmudgeon Bernie Sanders from Vermont were virtual unknowns to all except geeks like us. Now most everyone on the left has at least heard the name Sanders and because of this new found recognition, Sanders is winning – and winning big and often. It also helps to have such a pathetic and wholly unlikable opponent in Hillary Clinton.

The same goes for Cruz, who has combined his new fame with a superior ground game to achieve some rather stunning victories of his own. What Cruz has done to date is frankly even more impressive than Sanders. The only thing Clinton has is that she is woman. Sanders owns virtually every other leftist issue.

Many of Cruz’s major issues are similar to Trump’s – illegal immigration – refugees – terrorism. Trump’s core supporters are so far immovable. So Cruz must work harder than Sanders to secure the rest. And he’s doing so despite the egomaniacal John Kasich playing spoiler. Without Kasich, the majority of his supporters would gravitate toward Cruz.

Name recognition in politics is vitally important and because of it, among other things, I would not be surprised if both Cruz and Sanders ultimately win the day. And wouldn’t that be entertaining. Something I wouldn’t have bet on just a few months ago.

Also see,

Obama’s Eleventh Hour Land Grab