Sometimes Everyone on Message Is Not the Best...

I am not having a good week. The Mitchell Daily Republic catches us Democrats managing the message just a little too tightly:

The Daily Republic sent questionnaires to each [District 8] candidate. Two candidates, Fargen and Schmidtke, submitted nearly identical responses to most questions. Schmidtke, who has been Moody County Democratic Party chairman, said he had not seen Fargen’s answers and could not explain why they were nearly identical. He noted Democrats had discussed issues at the state level and are supporting gubernatorial candidate Scott Heidepriem with talking points.

Fargen did not respond to several requests for comment [Melanie Brandert, "District 8 Incumbents Hope to Keep Spots in Legislature," Mitchell Daily Republic, 2010.10.27]

There's an obvious punchline here... but I'll leave it for commenters.