Talk Radio a Fertile Field for GOP Senate Hopefuls

Hampered by a shortage of funds, but with a seeming abundance of colorful things to say, the Republicans vying for the U.S. Senate are waging their biggest battles not by barnstorming the state or buying a barrage of television ads, but by stumping for votes over the popular -- and free -- medium of talk radio.

The venue has provided much-needed exposure for the four major GOP candidates seeking Tuesday’s nomination to challenge Sen. Barbara Boxer, the Democratic incumbent. They are former Los Altos Hills Mayor Toni Casey, ex-California Secretary of State Bill Jones, former state Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian and ex-U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin.

Their contest overshadowed by the Democratic presidential primary and by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s efforts to pass budget-related ballot measures, the candidates have strategy in mind as they make the talk radio rounds.

“They’re attempting to energize their base, and what better way of doing it than via talk radio,” David Tabb, a professor of political science at San Francisco State, said of the GOP candidates for the Senate. “It’s a lot of bang for the buck.”

Talk radio allows candidates to reach voters across California, one of the nation’s most expensive television markets. Best of all, political analysts note, talk radio is free. It’s also particularly useful to conservative candidates in primary elections.

“It targets a Republican primary audience much more directly than other forms of media,” said Dan Schnur, a GOP political consultant who is not involved in the race. The number of people listening at any given time to a popular talk radio program, he said, dwarfs the potential audience a candidate can reach in person.

That’s not to say the candidates aren’t engaging in press-the-flesh campaigning or that all talk radio shows have a conservative bent. But political observers note that many of the programs do and that they consequently attract like-minded listeners.

“The audiences out there on radio have a tendency to be more conservative,” said Bob Taylor, Kaloogian’s campaign spokesman.

Perhaps no candidate has used talk radio more than Kaloogian to beam a message to throngs of voters. Over an eight-hour span Wednesday, Taylor said, Kaloogian held six radio interviews and two television ones.

He kicked off his first radio appearance before 7 a.m., reaching out to Bay Area listeners on KSFO-AM (560) by taking aim, among other things, at state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer’s handling of the same-sex marriage issue.

“This is the equivalent of walking precincts in a state as big as ours,” Kaloogian said, later in the day on Sacramento station KFBK-AM (1530), of his frequent talk radio appearances.

It’s no guarantee of success: Despite Kaloogian’s countless radio appearances, a Los Angeles Times poll this week found Jones leading him 44% to 12% among likely Republican primary voters, though many voters said they might change their minds. The same poll found Boxer winning a hypothetical November matchup with Jones by 53% to 37%.

Kaloogian and his opponents are not the first Republican candidates to rely on talk radio to communicate with voters, but they do reflect a trend. “In the aftermath of the recall campaign, the power and the reach of talk radio has never been greater,” Schnur said.

Conservative talk radio hosts are credited with prompting listeners to sign recall petitions that led to the demise of Gov. Gray Davis.

The Republican candidates for Senate are hoping that the appearances -- no matter the station -- will rally listeners to their side. Marin appeared on Pasadena station KPCC-FM (89.3) Wednesday afternoon to praise defense spending and call for immigration reform.

“We can no longer be the repository for Mexico’s unemployment line,” she said during one of at least four radio appearances in three days.

At a debate featuring all four major GOP candidates Tuesday on San Diego station KOGO-AM (600), Jones touted his involvement in the passage of the 1994 three-strikes law, which toughened sentencing for repeat offenders. “I’ve proven I can win repeatedly in California,” added Jones, who was scheduled to do five radio interviews over as many days.

By comparison, Casey’s campaign schedule showed five radio appearances over four days. During a rush-hour interview on KSFO she promised to champion small businesses and fight to eliminate wasteful spending. When opportunity permitted, she blasted the incumbent. “It’s going to take someone with my tenacity to beat Barbara Boxer,” she said .

Boxer strategist Roy Behr described the GOP Senate candidates’ use of talk radio as a sensible strategy to vie for conservative votes in the primary, but warned of its limitations.

“The problem is: It doesn’t help you reach middle-of-the-road voters,” Behr said. Boxer uses news radio, Behr said, to update the public on what’s going on in Washington. She made an appearance Tuesday on KNX-AM (1070) to discuss her new bill on handgun safety locks. “Does she appear on Rush Limbaugh a lot?” Behr said. “No, but there’s not really a whole lot of reason to.”

The challenge facing the GOP nominee, according to political analysts, will be to incorporate talk radio into a larger media campaign.

Besides using radio to energize conservatives, said political scientist Tabb, the successful candidate will “need to move to a broader audience, and that audience is not necessarily going to be listening to talk radio.”