{"id":6850,"date":"2012-11-13T07:02:09","date_gmt":"2012-11-13T12:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=6850"},"modified":"2012-11-13T09:23:10","modified_gmt":"2012-11-13T14:23:10","slug":"ny21-what-in-the-world-happened-to-matt-doheny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2012\/11\/13\/ny21-what-in-the-world-happened-to-matt-doheny\/","title":{"rendered":"NY21: What in the world happened to Matt Doheny?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Matt Doheny left the North Country’s political stage last week after falling at least 4,000 votes shy of toppling Democratic incumbent Bill Owens in the 21st district congressional race.<\/p>\n

After three attempts at winning the region’s House seat, and spending at least $750,000 of his own money in this year’s contest, Doheny says he’s retiring from politics.<\/p>\n

As the dust settles, I find myself circling back to the question of what happened to this once-promising, ambitious politician — a man his national party labeled a Young Gun.<\/p>\n

What is it that prevented Doheny — a self-described moderate-conservative — from winning back a seat that once seemed like a safe bet for Republicans?<\/p>\n

Here are six thoughts about what might have clipped his wings.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Sheer bad luck.\u00a0 If Bill Owens drew winning hands in 2009 and 2010, in the form of a nasty, divisive Republican-Conservative cat-fight, Doheny got the shaft.\u00a0 His best efforts at unifying the center-right were stymied by bitterness and ideological disputes beyond his control.\u00a0 By the time he was able to harness his side into anything like a unified force, Owens was already established as a three-year incumbent.\u00a0 Doheny had also earned himself a fair amount of distrust from some conservative activists who felt like he got in the way of Doug Hoffman’s tea party destiny.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 An untimely resume.\u00a0 Doheny wanted voters to see him as a straight-up businessman, but he made a ton of money on Wall Street doing the kinds of Bain Capital-style things that average citizens don’t understand and are increasingly leery of.\u00a0 That CV might have looked A-OK before Washington bailed out Wall Street.\u00a0 But now?\u00a0 Doheny argued that skeptical questions about his business history were a kind of class warfare.\u00a0 And he worked to brand Owens as a lawyer who didn’t understand entrepreneurship.\u00a0 But in many ways the Democrat’s resume and history sounded more Main Street than Doheny’s.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 A cultural disconnect.\u00a0 Matt Doheny was hard-charging, aggressive, forward-leaning, brash.\u00a0 Those aren’t bad things.\u00a0 But it didn’t always scan well. My sense is that it sometimes came across as glib.\u00a0 It contrasted sharply with Owens quieter, more mature posture.\u00a0 Doheny at times seemed more eager to talk than listen.\u00a0 He sometimes answered hard, complex questions with blunt, one-word answers.\u00a0 I’m not sure how that played with the moderate Republicans, women, and independents who decide North Country races.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Personal baggage.\u00a0 Doheny made a big deal of his decision to marry just before the election heated up, but I suspect that voters were still a bit leery of his personal history.\u00a0 In 2004, Doheny was tagged twice for boating while intoxicated on the St. Lawrence River and Coast Guard officials described him as \u201cuncooperative, very angry and combative.\u201d\u00a0 This year, Doheny was spotted in public with a woman other than his fiance, prompting the Glens Falls Post Star to question<\/a> his “late-night dalliance in Washington D.C. that was videotaped and played up in the New York City tabloids.”<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 That killer ad.\u00a0 I’ve described Bill Owens’ campaign as “quiet” and “lackluster” and I stick by that description for the most part.\u00a0 But there were a couple of TV spots produced by the Democrat’s team that I think landed serious blows on Doheny, in large part because they tapped into the narratives in points 2, 3 and 4 above.\u00a0 The most effective was a spot called “Four Islands.”\u00a0 I’m not saying the spot was entirely accurate or fair.\u00a0 But did it do Doheny damage?\u00a0 I’m guessing Yes.\u00a0 Check it out.<\/p>\n