Take “coachgate,” for example.
In late November, Raphael Warnock visited Wrightsville, where one of Walker’s former high-school football coaches threw his support behind the Democrat.
“That visit ****** Herschel’s mind up,” one staffer said.
Warnock’s move enraged both Walker and Blanchard, they said, with Blanchard pushing the campaign to pivot its line of attack to the coach, and away from allegations of evictions at a subsidized-housing complex owned by Warnock’s church.
“That was the point we felt we lost him,” said another aide, still mystified at exactly why the moment seemed to hit so close to home. “Two weeks out from the runoff, and we couldn’t get him to understand why this was a bad idea, to go after a high-school football coach when the other message was working.”
When the campaign pushed back, Walker called for a five-day blackout, canceling almost all public activity over the first weekend of early runoff voting. At that point, three staffers said, communication between the candidate and his top aides broke down—and it never recovered.
