This may be true on a national level, where everyone knows the names of the candidates and has some idea of their platforms.
But for a local office, where it’s tough to even be seen through the glare of Presidential and Senatorial candidates, a yard sign in your district is very valuable. It provides name recognition, and it provides a personal endorsement from the homeowner–if they are willing to put out a sign for this candidate, they must approve. That is quite useful in a race that is much further down on the ballot, and gets hardly any coverage by the press at all.
When I was a kid in the 50s and 60s, you would get compaign buttons and bumper stickers for free. Just go down to the campaign headquarters and pick some up. They were cheap and, since you didn’t have to spend millions on TV ads (which are, in essence, given to the public free), the cost of printing the material to give away was well worth it.
No one in my area had any lawn signs at the time.
Now, since TV ads are crucial – you reach more people – a candidate can’t waste money on signs and such.
Back when I lived in Albuquerque, even though I’ve never belonged to any particular political party, I was helping campaign for a particular Democrat running for state office. We had a list of Democrat Party members and were calling them up just to encourage them to get out and vote on election day, particulalry for this candidate, and anyone who sounded very enthusiastic we’d ask if we could send over a sign to put up on their lawn.
I was gonna say that. I’ve seen hardly any signs for either Obama or McCain* and none of them in yards, but rather on street corners. Local races, OTOH are everywhere, from U S Congress down to the local Justice of the Peace. Ditto for the propositions.
*Bumperstickers are another matter, but even there I’ve noticed more old ‘W’ stickers than McCain and Obama combined.
Right. The Obama and McCain signs won’t have much impact on individual Presidential choice, but they are very useful for coattails. The Obama sign in my Brother’s yard in Kansas City draws attention to the one for Jay Nixon.
Given the number of Republican candidates who seem to be running away from the Bush/Cheney legacy, the absence of Union bug is one of the few ways to tell party affiliation.
MoveOn comprises two legal entities, each organized under a different section of U.S. tax and election laws:
[ul]
[li]MoveOn.org Civic Action, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, formerly known as MoveOn.org, primarily focuses on education and advocacy on national issues.[/li]
[li]MoveOn.org Political Action, a federal political action committee, formerly known as MoveOn PAC, gives contributions to candidates across the country to advance causes in Congress and help elect selected political candidates.[/ul][/li]
The second one can supply bumper stickers.
Thanks for that link and that information on yard signs, anson. The funny part is that the comment that the yard signs are just “feel good” things that make people feel like they’re “part of the team” is exactly the reason that not having the campaign schwag to give out is so frustrating. This is the first election in a long time where a lot of Dems feel like they do want to be “part of the team” for the first time, and I personally think this is a great opportunity to capitalize on that. Make people feel like they’re important to the political process, and they’ll be a hell of a lot more likely to actually be important to the political process, whether by doing the minimum (voting) or doing more, either in this election or later ones. And this includes people who can’t vote yet, such as kids and non-citizens.
And thanks for the clarification of the MoveOn stuff, gaffa. My bumper sticker does indeed have “Political Action” in small letters under the big “MoveOn.Org.”
You’re right, and I did have a brief disclaimer to that effect. Name recognition for Obama and McCain is nearly universal, but I’d guess the vast majority of folks don’t know who their state or county legislators are, let alone the challengers. In local races, name recognition is a huge part of the battle.
Interesting. I have two lawn signs - one for a City Council candidate, and one for a school board candidate, both of whom we know people who know. They both asked if we would put the signs up. Maybe my lawn is worth more, since we live across the street from a school which is a polling place, so I guess we’re prime real estate.
Just a minor update. I received my Veterans for Obama rally sign today and notice that the actually roadside signs are back ordered along with the t-shirt.
I guess I will get them sometime after the election.
Just stumbled on this thread: Your local dem headquarters should have them. That’s where we got ours. We also had some leftover from when my wife and I were organizing for the primaries. If you don’t want to wait, try local dem headquarters.
I drove by a house in Bloomington yesterday which had an empty sign frame on the lawn with the sign punched out. Right next to it was a hand made wooden sign that said, “BARACK OBAMA: Even if you tear it down a [del]4th[/del] 5th time, we’ll still support him.”
