Bryan Scrafford asks a question I’ve been wondering about for a long time:
After awhile, however, I began to wonder how efficient it is for the candidates to be putting up signs. Why? Because even as someone who constantly follows politics, I have already become somewhat used to seeing the signs along the road and don?t really pay much attention to them. I imagine there are plenty of other people who have had a similar reaction. This ultimately means that when June 12 rolls around, there is a chance that people will forget that the signs they stopped paying attention to weeks ago actually were actually?telling them to vote.
Back in the day when I was more heavily involved in local politics, there was almost an obsession with road signs. Getting them up. Making sure you have more than the other guy. And putting them up when they got pulled down, whether by the road maintenance crews or by a rival campaign. Back in 1992, I worked the Republican Primary and General Election for Henry Butler, who was running for the then-newly created 11th District. He was one of my law professors and, more importantly, a libertarian leaning conservative.
During the Republican primary race, we were running against something like a half dozen other candidates, including former Congressman Mark Siljander who had moved to Virginia from Michigan after being defeated in a primary. We would spend hours putting signs together and sending out people to put them up. The sign wars between the campaigns were, quite honestly, juvenile.? Just what do you think you’re accomplishing tearing down your opponents signs ?
Anyway, we won the nomination that year only to lose the General Election thanks largely I think to the fact that George H.W. Bush was heading the ticket that year. The sign obsession continued throughout the General Election and, as I have been able to see every election cycle since, hasn’t let up.
Anyway, back to the signs:
The signs the candidates have put up might give them some name recognition, but they fall well short of providing reasons as to why people should feel motivated to vote in the primary.
Bryan is talking about a specific primary race in Fairfax County, but I think that his point is well taken universally. I can honestly say that I’ve gotten to the point where I tune out the road signs and I think that most of the rest of us do as well.
