Campaign Signs...
Sign of the times (union): Communities TU runs a story today about the Burma-Shave-esque lawn signs being used by Craig Waltz in the 8th ward race for the Common Council. A few points:
point #1: What a classic no-content campaign story by the TU! They use, what, almost 35 inches and the only actual information we get about the campaign is that it's a) an open seat race being contested by three people and b) Mayor Jennings has endorsed John Rosenzweig. That's it. Now, I know that very few people care about the 8th ward race, but couldn't the TU at least let people know something about the candidates? [don't we now know that Waltz is a little kooky? -ed. Because he got a bit too creative? No, because he said "lawn spam." -ed. Fair enough.] Yes, the Burma-shave signs are fun and psuedo-creative, but let's remember here that they are part of a campaign, not just some summer fair spectacle.
point #2: I'm not so sure about the signs as a campaign gimmick. They definitely attract attention, good. But they also make you seem a bit silly, bad. They get your name out, good. But they also make your camapign seem something less than serious, bad. From a machiavellian win-at-all-costs viewpoint, it might be a clever calculated risk: if you have little or no chance of winning otherwise, you might as well go for something like this. I'm not so sure about Waltz's explanation of the signs, either:
point #3: Wasn't Democracy in Albany on top of this like four weeks ago?
point #1: What a classic no-content campaign story by the TU! They use, what, almost 35 inches and the only actual information we get about the campaign is that it's a) an open seat race being contested by three people and b) Mayor Jennings has endorsed John Rosenzweig. That's it. Now, I know that very few people care about the 8th ward race, but couldn't the TU at least let people know something about the candidates? [don't we now know that Waltz is a little kooky? -ed. Because he got a bit too creative? No, because he said "lawn spam." -ed. Fair enough.] Yes, the Burma-shave signs are fun and psuedo-creative, but let's remember here that they are part of a campaign, not just some summer fair spectacle.
point #2: I'm not so sure about the signs as a campaign gimmick. They definitely attract attention, good. But they also make you seem a bit silly, bad. They get your name out, good. But they also make your camapign seem something less than serious, bad. From a machiavellian win-at-all-costs viewpoint, it might be a clever calculated risk: if you have little or no chance of winning otherwise, you might as well go for something like this. I'm not so sure about Waltz's explanation of the signs, either:
We wanted to avoid the usual lawn spam. They just clutter things up. We decided we needed to bring some fun back to politics.
Seems more likely that he had no money for real signs and making a homemade sign with your name on it just looks pathetic. But I love the effort. I will, however, resist the temptation to write a quick stanza as part of this post. [Coward.-ed. It's 5:30 in the morning, please.]point #3: Wasn't Democracy in Albany on top of this like four weeks ago?
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, September 07, 2005 at 4:02 AM.
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At 8:22 AM ,All I learned from that article -from the accompanying picture, actually- is that Craig Waltz wears ill-fitting pants
At 9:53 AM ,
When runner finds he's low on funds, it's on with thinking cap.
How else to spread one's name around each corner of the map?
It's best to have a slogan, though, that's very cute and brief.
Remember Mondale asking Ron to show us where's the beef?
Mr. Waltz is harking back to golden age of hype.
When hucksterims's tone was of a very different type.
When someone ran around the town to gain the public's note
A-whistling "Happy Days are Here"
and asking for your vote.
Some folks they've a lot of cash and post a lot of signs.
Others have the soundbyte and the witty, pithy lines.
So, even though you've not a dime and roll not in the money,
Attention you can still attract by merely being funny.
At 6:39 PM ,
Oh I remember Craig Waltz, I think I graduated from High School with him. Kooky, quirky, yup, he sure was. Was he ever smart though, but not much of a people person. If he was looking for votes from a computer, he'd be a hands-down-winner.
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