"In states as disparate as Wisconsin and New Mexico, ads have labeled a Black candidate as 'different' and 'dangerous' and darkened a white man’s hands as they portrayed him as a criminal...."

"In Wisconsin, where Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who is Black, is the Democratic nominee for Senate, a National Republican Senatorial Committee ad targeting him ends by juxtaposing his face with those of three Democratic House members, all of them women of color, and the words 'different' and 'dangerous.' In a mailer sent to several state House districts in New Mexico, the state Republican Party darkened the hands of a barber shown giving a white child a haircut, next to the question, 'Do you want a sex offender cutting your child’s hair?'... Appeals to white fears and resentments are an old strategy in American elections, etched into the country’s political consciousness, with ads like George Bush’s ad using the Black convict Willie Horton against Michael Dukakis in 1988, and Jesse Helms’s 1990 commercial showing a white man’s hands to denounce his Black opponent’s support for 'quotas.'" 

From "With Ads, Imagery and Words, Republicans Inject Race Into Campaigns/Running ads portraying Black candidates as soft on crime — or as 'different' or 'dangerous' — Republicans have shed quiet defenses of such tactics for unabashed defiance" (NYT).

The manipulation of the color of hands is a very specific problem, and I don't like seeing the name of my state mixed up in that accusation. I don't like "In states as disparate as Wisconsin and New Mexico, ads have... darkened a white man’s hands as they portrayed him as a criminal." That happened in New Mexico but not in Wisconsin.

Yes, there has been been relentless advertising against Mandela Barnes here in Wisconsin, but I haven't seen any photoshopping of the color of hands or other body parts. What I'm seeing — and it's practically the only advertising I'm seeing — is the connection of Mandela Barnes to crime and to policies advocated by the most left-wing Democrats. Yes, you can argue that is inherently racial, and the NYT article also does that, but it's a far cry from this awfulness from New Mexico:

About that "working class bona fides" politicians get from posing in diners.

I had to laugh, reading this NYT article, "Democrats Worry as G.O.P. Attack Ads Take a Toll in Wisconsin/Mandela Barnes, the party’s Senate candidate, is now wobbling in his race against Ron Johnson, the Republican incumbent. Democratic nominees in other states face similar challenges":

MADISON, Wis. — Politicians who visit diners know the deal: In exchange for photos establishing their working-class bona fides, they must cheerfully accept heaping portions of unsolicited advice. 

But on Tuesday at Monty’s Blue Plate Diner here in Madison, one of the first people to approach Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Wisconsin, took the tradition to a new level, presenting him with a typed-up list of concerns about his campaign....

Monty’s Blue Plate Diner! That's not the working-class diner an innocent reader will picture. It's a restaurant styled like a 1950s diner for the amusement of upscale, highly educated Madison people. You can get a breakfast sandwich at 3 times the price of an Egg McMuffin. You can get something called the "Heathen Vegan Shoplifter's Delight" (portobellos, fried tempeh, avocado, and grilled red onion with lemon-tahini dressing on a baguette).

The Democratic Party candidate is on super-safe territory here. The NYT reader should not be visualizing a folksy small town place like you might see in a movie.

The NYT's Nate Cohn pushes Democrats to worry about "the possibility that the apparent Democratic strength in Wisconsin and elsewhere is a mirage — an artifact of persistent and unaddressed biases in survey research."

I'm reading "Yes, the Polling Warning Signs Are Flashing Again/Democrats are polling well in exactly the places where surveys missed most in 2020."

Most pollsters haven’t made significant methodological changes since the last election....  The pattern of Democratic strength isn’t the only sign that the polls might still be off in similar ways.... 

About Wisconsin, Cohn says: "The state was ground zero for survey error in 2020, when pre-election polls proved to be too good to be true for Mr. Biden. In the end, the polls overestimated Mr. Biden by about eight percentage points. Eerily enough, [Mandela] Barnes is faring better than expected by a similar margin."

President Biden came to Milwaukee to campaign, and the Democrats' Senate candidate, Mandela Barnes, avoided the event.

The Washington Post took note: "As Biden celebrates Labor Day, Democratic candidates tread gingerly/The president attended Labor Day events in Milwaukee and Pittsburgh, as Democratic contenders like Senate candidate Mandela Barnes keep a careful distance."

What, exactly, was Barnes worried about? "Gingerly" means "With great care as to the result of a movement or act; (very) carefully, cautiously, tentatively, warily. Also: reluctantly, with distaste (as in handling some disagreeable object, etc.)" (OED).

We're told that "for days [Mandela] wouldn’t say whether he planned to appear with Biden.... [then] he didn’t show up at the president’s speech and instead participated in other Labor Day events." That's just plain shunning, isn't it?

"... Democrats, nationally and in Wisconsin, [are] divided over how much to emphasize their own police-friendly credentials and how much to stick to the racial justice movement..."

"... that erupted anew in 2020. [Governor Tony] Evers, for example, has unilaterally funneled more than $56 million in federal funds to law enforcement, a move that enables him to circumvent a legislative maze controlled by Republicans who some Democrats worry are hesitant to give Evers a win in an election year.... But Rep. David Bowen, a Democratic state legislator who represents Milwaukee and is running for lieutenant governor... worried that moving too quickly away from police accountability would sour voters on Democrats who promised change... The National Republican Senatorial Committee recently attacked Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes — one of the Democrats who hopes to challenge Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) in the fall — for refusing to say whether he still supports cash bail.... The ad said Barnes 'also refuses to oppose defunding the police.' Barnes’s campaign declined to comment for this article. One of the earliest campaign ads for Rebecca Kleefisch, one of the Republicans trying to unseat the state’s Democratic governor, begins with an image of Kenosha in flames. 'One year ago, Kenosha burned while Tony Evers failed to lead,' Kleefisch says in the ad, at one point walking past a boarded-up business. 'Lives were lost, and small businesses were burned because our governor sided with rioters over the people of this community.' Strategists for both sides say it is too early to predict for certain which issues will be salient in a midterm election six months from now and whether crime will still be a top concern."

From "In Wisconsin, a complex debate on crime foreshadows a midterm fight" (WaPo).

"How Chaos in Kenosha Is Already Swaying Some Voters in Wisconsin/As residents see fires and looting, some worry that local Democratic leaders are failing to keep control of the situation."

A headline in the NYT.

In Kenosha County, where the president won by fewer than 250 votes in 2016, those who already supported Mr. Trump said in interviews that the events of the past few days have simply reinforced their conviction that he is the man for the job. But some voters who were less sure of their choice said the chaos in their city and the inability of elected leaders to stop it were currently nudging them toward the Republicans.

And some Democrats, nervous about condemning the looting because they said they understood the rage behind it, worried that what was happening in their town might backfire and aid the president’s re-election prospects.

Are they "nervous about condemning the looting because... they understood the rage behind it" or are they nervous about condemning the looting because they're afraid of the social and economic consequences of speaking out against the looting? The NYT includes the words "they said" — "nervous because... they said they understood" — but was that because we don't know whether they really do understand the rage or is it because we don't whether they're giving an accurate account about why they are holding back from "condemning the looting"? I suspect it's the former, because the NYT is otherwise downplaying the disorder: Why is it just saying "the looting"? How about the arson and other violence? Is the NYT nervous about mentioning the arson because it understands the rage?

Ellen Ferwerda, who owns an antique furniture store downtown just blocks from the worst of the destruction that is now closed, said that she was desperate for Mr. Trump to lose in November but that she had “huge concern” the unrest in her town could help him win. She added that local Democratic leaders seemed hesitant to condemn the mayhem.

“I think they just don’t know what to say,” she said. “People are afraid to take a stance either way, but I do think it’s strange they’re all being so quiet. Our mayor has disappeared. It’s like, ‘Where is he?’”

Maybe stop referring to them as "Democratic leaders." Maybe try something like "Democratic shrinkers" or — if you're nervous about condemning them because you understand their reticence — "Democratic nice people."

A common purpose, especially for those on the proper side.

Oh nothing, just the Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin implying that it is far more acceptable for those on the improper side (i.e. Republicans) to be "reduced to collateral damage." https://t.co/vuTn8Z5oFf

— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) June 24, 2020