Now that a portion of President Biden's infrastructure package has made the passage between the Scylla of Mitch McConnell and the Charybdis of Senators Sinema and Manchin, it's time to look ahead to the eventual dedication ceremonies for some of the projects that the bill will fund, particularly those in Republican states. Let's imagine ourselves at one of those ceremonies, in a Congressional district with a Republican representative, located in a state with a Republican senator. It would please me if one of the politicians at the dedication should say something like this:
I am honored to be part of the dedication ceremony for this fine project. As you know, your Senator A and your Representative B voted against the bill that funded this project and the Z jobs that it created.
Enterprising Democratic candidates running against that Senator or that Representative could then modify the same line when raising money for their races, particularly from contractors who had contributed to their opponents in earlier races. I have in mind mailers and social media advertising with a message something like this one:
The top brass of XYZ Construction gave $X to Senator A and Representative B in their last elections, who both voted against the bill that paid for XYZ to build the ___ project and created Z jobs for our community. Ask XYZ why it supports unemployment.
People more skilled than I am at crafting political messages can improve on this concept. The important thing is for the messaging to use the same words consistently, getting more pointed as the election approaches, maybe finishing with:
Representative X votes NO on jobs for the 8th District. Replace X now.