ICYMI: Montana Candidate Shirtless on Tinder Campaign Ad
This is one of those ICYMI..."in case you missed it"...be glad you missed it news stories.
A Democrat candidate for Congress in Montana decided to go shirtless on the dating app Tinder. Apparently it was all part of a stunt to gain publicity for his campaign. Luckily I did not *see* this story, but I did read about it in Sally Mauk's weekly "Campaign Beat" conversation for Montana Public Radio.
Mauk Finally, Holly, one of the Democratic candidates running for the House, Tom Winter, has a provocative Valentine's Day ad out, and it's a fake Tinder ad. Tinder being the dating app. And it shows him standing shirtless in a river. And the copy on the ad says things like, "If you're not game to talk health care, it's not going to work out." The ad has made national news, but I can't decide if it's too clever by half or what.
Lee Newspapers capitol reporter Holly Michels then followed up by asking basically, can you imagine if a woman had done this? Meanwhile, my first question was- can you imagine if a Republican guy had put an ad out there like this?
Holly Michels: I think my first thought when I saw that is what the response would be if a woman candidate running for office did something similar and kind of what backlash they would face. I think it's interesting you see candidates doing what they can to kind of get their name out there. And Winter is pretty significantly trailing Williams in the fundraising side of that race. So, you know, any attention he can get kind of helps his campaign. You see a lot of silly stuff on Twitter.
The New York Daily News referred to Winter as "hunky," while The New York Post noted:
Asked if he’s actually single and available, he said, “Yep, sadly.”