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People tell me Republican consultant John Hancock is a really nice guy.
I think they’re right. And, as Hancock’s clients have learned repeatedly, nice guys finish last.
The clearest example of Hancock’s failure was John Brunner’s campaign for US Senate in 2012.
Brunner is an exceptional businessman with a remarkably clear and accurate political philosophy. Had Brunner succeeded in winning the GOP nomination for Senate, Claire McCaskill would be retired, the GOP would have a Senate majority already, and Rand Paul would have a philosophical friend in the upper chamber.
John Brunner is too decent a man to blame John Hancock’s ineptness for Brunner’s primary loss to Todd Akin. But everybody knows what happened.
Hancock turned the bold and libertarian Brunner into an establishment-sounding amateur. Hancock put Brunner in a straight-jacket, making the most pro-liberty candidate in a field of three sound like Hancock’s idol, Ann Wagner. Brunner, being a first-time candidate and a businessman familiar with delegation to experts, trusted Hancock. And Brunner got burned.
Some cynics I know say that Ann Wagner’s cabal enlisted Hancock to keep Brunner in check. These highly skeptical people think that Brunner’s libertarianism would attract lots of young voters, squeezing out the GOP establishment. I’m not that cynical, though, because Hancock’s campaigns fail the establishment, too.
Before straight-jacketing Brunner, Hancock’s campaign prowess gave us Secretary of State Catherine Hanaway and Governor Ken Hulshof. Or, no, wait. Those two went down in flames, too. In fact, I can’t find a single statewide election Hancock won. Hancock is to campaigns what I am to golf.
Now, Hancock wants to run the Missouri GOP as Chairman of the Missouri Republican Party. He promises to raise lots of money for the state party, and it’s likely to come from Rex Sinquefield, the weird billionaire political pimp with a great big blimp.
Look for Hancock to get a big check from Rex in the coming weeks. Hanaway and Wagner will throw their support behind him. Then Hancock will wow the right with Fair Taxes and education reform ideas.But real end game is Sinquefield’s total, personal ownership of Missouri government.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Nice guys finish last.