Yard Signs for Candidates

Maryland. Pennsylvania also apparently has them. Other states call them probate or surrogate courts.

This was exactly what happened with my husband and me in 2004 when Bush and Kerry were running. My husband is mostly apolitical, leaning Democratic, and usually supports the same candidates I do (I’m a strong blue Democrat). But he’s also a Vietnam veteran who received just as many medals as Kerry did, maybe more – Silver Star, Bronze Star, 3 Purple Hearts. And to this day he hates Kerry for his stand on that war, perhaps even more than he hates Jane Fonda. There was no way he was going to vote for Kerry for anything, and there was no way I was going to vote for Bush. But he’s nothing if not a good sport, so in addition to getting a lawn sign for Bush, he even picked up a Kerry lawn sign for me. And he put both signs in our front yard, with a smaller sign at the top of each proclaiming “His” and “Hers.”

I once had a coworker who was new to the city I live in, Topeka, Kansas.

Two nice young people came to the door and asked if they could put up an election sign in his yard. It was a nice corner lot, so a lot of people would see it. The young woman in the couple was running for city council.

So my coworker said sure, go ahead. Later he wondered why his next door neighbors, a lesbian couple who previously had been very friendly, cut him off and wouldn’t speak to him.

The sign was for Jael Phelps, granddaughter of Fred Phelps, of Westboro Baptist Church infamy. When I explained that to him he called his wife, who was at home, and told her to go take down the sign right now. Friendly relations with the neighbors were resumed.