Progress Report: Hinckley Says Campaigns Good Business PR, RI Conservatives and the Second Amendment

Why is Barry Hinckley running for Senate? Probably for the same reasons he told others they should run for office:

“This is one of my wackier ideas but run for office,” he told a group he was speaking to in 2009 (watch the full video here, the good parts start at about 6:40). “Even if you lose running for office you actually win because you get tons of free pr. You can actually raise money from friends, co-workers, people who support your candidacy. Run on as jobs platform – I will create jobs – that will get free press.”

Hinckley tells Tim White and Ted Nesi that despite telling others to run for office for selfish purposes, that’s not why he is doing it. It’s hard to believe, given that his entire campaign playbook seems to mimic this 2009 speech – right down to where he advises listeners to exploit family and young children to help gain campaign attention … something that will probably be Hinckley’s most enduring political legacy.

Speaking of Republicans running for office … I can’t really tell if Brendan Doherty thinks assault rifles should or should not be protected by the Second Amendment based on his comments in this Projo article. Hinckley didn’t really give a clear answer either but I wasn’t expecting one, given safety issues have little ability to help his personal career.

It’s actually pretty entertaining some of the excuses conservatives are offering up in an attempt to not have to take a stand on gun control right now.

Ian Donnis raises a good question: why won’t Anthony Gemma appear on RIPR’s Political Roundtable? The irony here is he did go on Buddy Cianci, who beat the heck out of him and even sandbagged him with a question about a fake issue. Donnis, on the other hand, is well-regarded as one of fairest political reporters in Rhode Island. So the answer is probably nothing personal against public radio, just another miscalculation by the Gemma campaign…

Prolepsis aside, it’s fair to call Rhode Island’s own Roger Williams the first progressive in the New World.

Did you hear that the CEO of Lenovo donated his $3 million bonus to lower-paid employees?

Welcome to downtown Providence, HousingWorksRI.