U.S. Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga) suspects the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is already starting the 2014 campaign against him by sending a “video tracker” to Barrow’s event in Georgia’s 12th congressional district.
This morning, Barrow sent out a tweet with an image of a young man filming his event adding “Sworn in just 4 days ago & the @NRCC up their same tricks sending a tracker 2 my event in the new #ga12. Very Sad.”
Video trackers are political paparazzi who shadow a candidate, taking pictures or videos of the politician in just about every situation but especially at their political events, hoping for an embarrassing slip that could make the headlines.
Usually trackers are young college students or graduates who are looking to get into politics.
Barrow just won a challenging campaign in November against Republican state Rep. Lee Anderson.
Georgia’s 12th congressional district was redrawn after the 2010 census and now includes more conservative areas making it an easy grab for Republicans.
Barrow, a centrist Democrat who is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition – a group of fiscally conservative Democrats, won the 2012 election by seven points.
Certainly, the NRCC must have been all but sure of a Republican win in the 12th district, and various Republican organizations invested quite a bit of money to oust Barrow.
Anderson, however, turned out to be a weak candidate who refused to debate Barrow and based his campaign on linking the Democrat to President Barack Obama. Barrow voted against some signature bills the President supported, such as Obamacare, and the 12th district voters have known him as a non-partisan politician for years.
The 2012 election proved that if the NRCC wants the 12th district, they will have to run a strong and experienced candidate who proves himself ready for Washington.
It’s unlikely they will be able to vote Barrow out of office by bashing his voting record or video-taping his political events.
On his side, the Democrat is surely aware of the tough fight in front of him. The mid-term elections usually turn out more Republicans than Democrats, and last year’s seven- point win for Barrow still keeps the 12th district in a “toss-up” column.
Last week Barrow introduced a balanced budget amendment, his first legislative action in the 113th Congress. The Georgia Democrat also spoke out against President Obama’s executive order authorizing pay increase for Congress and Vice President Joe Biden.
“At a time when American families face real hardship, it would be irresponsible to allow Congressional pay to increase (…),” said Barrow. “Folks expect us to be looking out for them, not ourselves, and we should be working to lower taxes, cut spending, and get our nation’s debt under control.”
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