SocraticGadfly: Wendy Davis ups her game

March 14, 2014

Wendy Davis ups her game

She's hired Zac Petkanas, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's now-former communications manager, to do the same for her.

Perry has more details on what this means. 

I agree on the key takeaway. Davis is already showing not only a more rapid response to Abbott antics and actions, but will surely start being more proactive more often on a greater variety of issues.

There's one other bit of good news in all of this.

Petkanis is obviously an outsider. He's not directly connected to Battleground Texas and the Lone Star Project, and he's not at all connected with Davis' state senate office or past campaigns staff. Also, with his past employment, he can land on his feet easily if he has a falling out with Davis.

So, he can puncture any bubbles she has developed over the years, or, at least, give it his best shot. And, that's the biggie. A lot of Davis' earlier communications mistakes, in addition to less than optimal performance even without mistakes, were largely caused by her being in an echo chamber, I think. At the same time, she created that echo chamber, or bubble, and the thickness of its walls. So, Zac has his work cut out for him. So far, he appears to be off to a good start.

That said, this leads to another question from me. 

Maybe folks at BG or somewhere else hinted to Davis that she needed somebody new running her communications game. I'm curious how the idea for any change started, and more particularly, how Petkanas was tagged to be the agent of change.

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