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The Oregonian's Steve Duin on Nick Fish's Values Based Campaign
"When you stand up and say, 'Look at all the wonderful things I've done for you,' you might as well be speaking Greek to a French audience,' Fish said. 'People respond to values; they don't respond to laundry lists. When you put your values front and center, you also put who you are front and center, and people are starved for authentic figures in politics.'
And voters, as weary of plastic politicians as they are of plastic bags, are intrigued.
I suspect they've also noticed a difference in the way Fish campaigns and communicates. Before volunteering that he's a lawyer, Fish notes he's spent 20 years "helping people without power obtain justice." Asked about health care, he doesn't pull out the laundry list of competing proposals: He talks about the blessing of having health insurance when his son was born with strabismus, an eye problem, and his determination that everyone facing similar challenges will be similarly covered.
And voters make the connection. They respond to passion because they don't feel enough of it. They accept human weakness because they relate to it. And they warm to a good story when they are made to feel a part of it."