Brat's first press conference a failure?

My colleague Dave Brat held a press conference today - sort of. It was more of a prepared statement, and he refused to answer questions afterwards. Blue Virginia called it a "faux" press conference, while MSNBC ran the headline, "Dave Brat gives press conference that’s not for the media."

I don't think this is going to matter as his campaign becomes professionalized. Dave is an amateur, yes, and he's making a few amateur mistakes. But staying away from the media is not one of them. His opponent is even more of an amateur than he is. (No offense to Jack Trammell, but he's very inexperienced.) So he can take some time avoiding the tough questions until he's ready to answer them. Not very brave, maybe, but certainly smart.

Brat made a big deal in his statement about "staying local" with his staff, but that's partially because the national Republicans are not terribly invested in the race. And according to some, they don't need to be; as I hinted to WRIC-8's Parker Slaybaugh on tonight's news broadcast, thanks to the demographics of the district it's Dave's race to lose. All he needs to do is not screw it up. Today's statement wasn't a great beginning, but he doesn't need to be great to win.