I came home this evening to find my mailbox stuffed with campaign mail...Must be time to vote. I leave opining on the merits of issues and candidates to my dear friend
. Rather, I prefer to opine in an area where I have some expertise: the communications that land in my mail.
I mean, who writes this stuff? (Actually, I know who you are and think you probably have a lot of fun dreaming this stuff up!) A better question is: who would take these flyers and postcards at face value, and vote based on what they read?
So the big election in my 'hood is for State Senate. It's a threesome - the battle between incumbent
Carole Migden, Assemblyman
Mark Leno, and
Joe Nation (okay, of the three, Nation has a leg up on the others when it comes to just his name...did he inherit it or craft it for his profession?!). Living just north of San Francisco, I am getting flooded by mailers because it happens to be Nation country - or at least his name has greater familiarity since he was our North Bay assemblyman for 6 years.
Taken one-by-one perhaps a careless reader might be persuaded by one flyer or another...But when you receive a stack of them all at once, you just can't help but chuckle.
Let's see - today I learned that "You Can't Fix Sacramento with a Corporate Tool." I guess Joe Nation is the wrench in question - you got it, that big, red pipe wrench tool...The mailer's message: Nation is "a favorite tool of corporations in Sacramento" (cuz they contributed to his campaign). Rather, Leno is the better choice for change (supported by other politicians, unions and special interest groups).
Another flyer shows Joe Nation rolling a suitcase, and urges voters to "keep Joe from packing his bags for Sacramento" - after all, he lost to Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey in 2006 and he had nowhere to go. Why send him packing again?
A third flyer has a beautiful image of our beloved Golden Gate Bridge and asks "Who is the best choice for Marin and Sonoma?" Of course, that would be Mark Leno who pointedly asks - once you flip the thing open - "Who is the best choice for Big Business?" (that would be Nation in case you were wondering...)
Next is a two-sided flyer that has horrible photographs of Migden and Leno (see below) , and that states that "San Francisco politicians Carole Migden and Mark Leno are not worth the gamble" (because they won't stop the spread of casinos, since they received money from Sonoma gaming interests and won't pledge to stop the casino." Of course, flip it over, and there you have a beautifully photoshopped image of Joe Nation, clean and crisp, "...the only candidate who will stand up to the North Bay casino."
Speaking of Nation, his campaign also sends another oversized card exclaiming how he will fight to improve health care (with a list of all the bills he authored to fight for affordable health care.) Mmm...but wait, didn't I just read in the Leno piece that Nation voted for drug and insurance companies?! Who do you believe?
Which brings me to my absolute FAVORITE campaign flyer so far: Carole Migden's...! "Creativity Always Begins in Controversy." is her slogan...Holy cow! You can say that again...!! Here is "miss-I-drove-recklessly-but-was-on-medications-and-had-campaign-financing-issues-but-please-vote-for-me"...putting a spin on her controversy: "...but of course, I may be controversial, but it makes me creative..." I wonder how many writers it took to dream that one up!!
Well, dear readers, I'm the first to say that it's obvious that victory is all in how you get out your message. Clearly, these candidates' campaign consultants have polled constituents and tailored the messages to hit the key issues important to voters. And they paid special attention to color, type and photography to make sure that the flyers get the message across supported by imagery - and that they are simple.
The sad fact is that as Americans, we don't like to read, we don't like to study the issues and we are easily swayed by top-line messages instead of the facts. If we are truly to see change - the kind of change that is being touted during this election year, we must begin to better understand who we are putting in office and then hold them accountable for results. This is not easy work. It means questioning what you read. Understanding and following the issues. Reading the fine print: who is paying for this material and why might they be supporting this particular candidate? And not being persuaded by the quick glance.
I encourage you to take some time to study the voter guides, and delve in a little deeper than the junk that clutters your mail. You may be surprised what you uncover!
--C.L.C.