Weigel

“Great Seeing You!’

Ohio’s Josh Mandel has become my favorite U.S. Senate candidate of 2012. Skip halfway through this video (clipped, but not really edited, by Ohio Democrats), and watch him heroically refuse to respond to the question he’s getting.

Now, the “switch to your talking point” trick is a useful one, taught to candidates and pundits at every level. It works pretty well on a satellite TV interview or a controlled setting where a reporter won’t get bogged down in follow-ups – see the 2008 Palin-Biden debate. But Mandel has picked up the fascinating, and never effective, tactic of trying to talk past a reporter who has him locked into an in-person interview.

Some bonus context: Andrew Romano’s new Newsweek story about Mandel’s campaign, which is doing pretty well anyway, thanks to boatloads of 501c4 and Super PAC mone.