Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Campaigns that will proceed in spite of themselves

All three of the following campaigns have one thing in common, IMHO, which is a floor of support. As any political science professor and advertising staffer will tell you, name ID is key in a campaign and these three have it. It may be because of name ID that they actually make it past June:


Marti Emerald
Anyone with a TV set in San Diego knows who she is. The local Dem Party is turning people out. Labor is turning people out. As for her campaign, it seems to be turning people off.

If the volunteer coordinator can’t get volunteers and the campaign manager never emerges to promote her candidate, what is the point of having them there?

In another question, what does it take to turn a 20 year TV personality into Juan Vargas-lite? Apparently Juan’s consultant. Remer dropped two mail pieces that were ostensibly pro-Marti. I say that because they seemed to be wastes of resources rather than an effective use of them.

First off, the pieces are swathed in yellow. For a campaign that has chosen the color green as an identifier, you make the call as to what’s wrong. Next, there is a list of supporters which would be fine if people didn’t know who she was and needed names to legitimize her candidacy. Also wasting space are the photos that show Marti in people’s homes and not troubleshooting. I admit it took me a good minute to figure out what the message was here. I think I got it; that she’s not an interior designer but running for something.

The second piece, with screen shots, could have been done better. Again washed in yellow, it reads like a newscaster just moved in and is introducing themself to you. Not “I’m a problem solver here to help.” At least to didn’t have Marti on a bulldozer mowing down a crack house every election cycle like Juan Vargas.

Thankfully, Marti may pull this out in spite of her own “campaign”, if it can be called that.


Hartley
Were this LA, Hartley would be roadkill. His tale would still be making the late night talk show circuit and the “apology” mailer (Remer again) would have been lampooned for weeks. However, because the news media in San Diego would rather cover panda births instead of campaigns Harley will survive to run again.

The Whitburn-Gloria match-up is being seen as an intramural fight within the LGBT community which (surprise) isn’t a majority of the voters in the 3rd. Hartley has walked the district, on and off, for nearly 20 years and been on the ballot more times than Stephen or Todd combined.

As such, Hartley makes the run-off. And, as a final bit of advice to the Hartley campaign, stop it with the phallic imagery, such as open hands on the mail piece or “being caught in a pickle.“


Aguirre
All Mike has to do is lay low and the campaign will take care of itself. Mike’s appeal lies in the “they’re all a bunch a bums” mentality that Republicans have fostered since Reagan and that “government can’t be trusted” mentality that keeps getting Donna elected. There is a sliver of truth in each perspective, but in San Diego, they go unchallenged so they prevail.

Hell, all he has to do is put a few signs up and let his challengers do eachother in. No one wants to give to the challengers for fear of being targeted by Mike, yet no one wants to give to Mike lest they be targeted by his opponents. Such a vicious circle only benefits the status quo, which has Mike as top dog.

Therefore, all his campaign staff needs is a pulse to collect their check. Mike and the nature of San Diego politics have seen to the rest. He makes the run-off hands down

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Name ID can be overcome, but this looks like a low turnout election and I agree that all three will get in, but is that such bad thing?

Anonymous said...

I think the point is that if these races were run as head to head competitions, we'd be in trouble. Thank God Marti can get in.

Anonymous said...

Actually Juan never bulldozed a crack house. He repainted a wall that was covered in graffiti, he made a blue haired old lady smile after telling her he would protect the flag by supporting an anti-flag burning amendment in the Constitution, he would stand on freeway corners and wave to people and let's not forget that he led the fight against lead in Mexican candy.

Anonymous said...

From what I can tell from your description, Marti's campaign sounds an awful lot like Vince Hall's less than stellar efforts for State Assembly. With that said, name ID really does count for something, and she should do fairly well.

As for Remer, why do people keep going back to that guy? His mailers are wasteful and ugly. He isn't a great stategist, and gets his butt kicked by virtually every consultant in town.

Anonymous said...

oh just the mention of good ole Juan makes me feel all funny inside.