The last-minute sales pitches by congressional candidates over the past 24 hours included one standout: a rather goofy photo of 10th District frontrunner Paul Mitchell amiably playing the accordion.
The photo (actually a screen-grab from a video) was featured in campaign literature mailed by state Sen. Phil Pavlov of St. Clair, who is widely viewed as the candidate running in second place behind Mitchell in the Republican primary battle to replace outgoing Congresswoman Candice Miller.
Pavlov’s message is that Mitchell moved into the district (Lapeer County) last summer to run for Congress after losing a mid-Michigan run for Congress two years ago. Since then, he has swamped the four other GOP candidates by spending more than $1 million of his own money on his campaign.
“These are serious times,” the Pavlov campaign piece says. “But Paul Mitchell just isn’t a serious leader.”
How better to illustrate that point than with a photo of an accordion-playing Mitchell?
I suspect that tonight, after the votes are in, Mitchell will be the one celebrating. Perhaps a rousing version of “Roll Out The Barrel” would be in order.
