Here's a tip, Charlie: Your base won't be more likely to vote for you if you brag about "standing up" to your own party.
Well, it's not really his BASE that he needs to worry about right now.
I don't see how it benefits him in any way. The number of Independent voters on the fence swayed by this sort of message is negligible. If Republicans want someone who will 'stand up' to Democrats then they probably won't vote for a Democrat. And Democrats certainly aren't going to be turned on by the message. (And those that are will be more than offset by those that get irked by it.)
There is no winning scenario from this strategy. It woos no one and makes him look desperate and opportunistic.
You're forgetting that this part of the country is full of Conservative Democrats. Like in West Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas, etc., the Democrats usually have big intensification advantages, but have large populations of Democrats that are as uncomfortable with Pelosi-grade Liberalism as Republicans are. He's targeting those kind of voters, and trying to reassure them that voting for him doesn't equal support for the National democratic party, and then playing to their natural identification advantages.
Liberals are going to vote for him anyway, so he's not really losing much there. He just has to run an "Look at how evil my Republican opponent is" ad and that will more than offset any discouragement this kind of ad produces.
