The ongoing embarrassment that is Randy Brock’s web presence

On April 22, Senator Randy Brock (R-Hopeless) dipped a cautious toe into the world of social media by launching a Twitter feed — @BrockforGov. I became one of his Followers. One of his, ahem, 39 followers. Yep, the likely Republican nominee for Governor is gaining followers at the blistering pace of three per day. At that rate, he’ll catch up with @GovPeterShumlin in about four years — assuming that the Gov stops attracting new Followers of his own.  

Of course, Brock isn’t helping matters by the slow pace of his Tweets: a total of ten, and none at all since last Sunday’s Maple Festival in St. Albans, where he unveiled his $21 million “Republican bear.” C’mon, Randy — no Twitter commentary on this week’s hot and heavy Legislative action? Missed opportunity, son.

Now let’s pay a brief visit to Brock’s Facebook page. Hmm, that’s curious: his “About” message appears to be a relic of his 2010 run for Senate:

Thank you to the thousands who voted for me. Thank you to our many dedicated volunteers and contributors. It’s no secret that the next two years hold many challenges for Vermont. I pledge to do my part to help us meet these challenges and to transf

“To transf” what, exactly, is a mystery. And another online embarrassment for a campaign that seems to pay no attention whatsoever to its Web presence.

Otherwise, there’s a smattering of messages to and from the good Senator, but nothing much. (The page is worth a visit to read the two angry messages from conservative Catholics who were upset with Brock’s cancellation of a planned fundraiser at the infamous Wildflower Inn.) As for the candidate himself, his latest Facebook posting is a pre-St. Albans hint about that damn bear. Nothing since.

And now, let’s revisit his campaign website.

Which is sadly, astonishingly, unchanged since our last visit. It’s still a very basic template, a modest retooling of his 2010 Senate campaign website. There’s not even a link to his highly-touted “bears in the woods” video ad. The “News” page still features the December 7* announcement of his candidacy, and a series of newspaper endorsements dating from his unsuccessful bid for a second term as State Auditor. (You remember, the election he lost to “Democrat” Tom Salmon.)

*Well, no matter how things go from here, at least the Brock candidacy will never be the worst disaster to ever happen on that date.

And the “Issues” page still — STILL! — includes the following grammatical abortion:

We need to continue to encourage the development of new, green initiatives maintain our position on the leading edge of innovation for new, green initiatives for cost-effective alternative energy sources.

Come ON, Senator. That’s just sad. But I’m going to keep bringing it up until you (or your “expert” team of campaign consultants) get around to fixing that sentence.

To summarize: the Randy Brock campaign’s online presence is a downright embarrassment, something you’d expect from a low-budget fringe candidate, not from the putative leader of a major party’s ticket.  

One thought on “The ongoing embarrassment that is Randy Brock’s web presence

  1. I think his anemic campaign is just another sign that he is only a place-holder in the 2012 election.  More ambitious Republicans are getting Brock’s “turn” out of the way in this un-winnable race so that he’ll be a non-player when genuine opportunity knocks.

    Shumlin has done nothing but increase his popularity among likely Republican voters; and Irene gave him a stage for the kind of showmanship that will cement that popularity.

    Voters on the left who may be disenchanted with Shumlin’s environmental, revenue and labor positions are certainly not going to be recruited by any Republican.

    Lisman’s money is waging a seriously long-term campaign in the hope that, regardless of the election cycle, stirring the pot with a golden wand will shift the zeitgeist to something more conducive to Republican ambitions.

    Brock is just the fall-guy this time.  In the greater scheme of things, he doesn’t have “A-Team” support because he’s playing for the “B-Team.”

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