Slog - Comments on This Year's Best and Worst Campaign Mailers http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile As my coworkers are (all too) aware, I have a bit of an obsession with campaign mailers. What most people throw out without even reading, I keep and compile in marked file folders. It's a compulsion: Anyway, every year, I pick the year's best and worst mailers, and now I'm sharing them with you on Slog. First, the worst (an unprecedented tie!) This first one comes form the Washington State Democratic Central Committee. Here's the front. First of all, I can't look at that arrow without thinking of this: And Dan Savage notes that the arrow points at the crotch... Copyright 2008 Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:59:35 -0800 Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:37:01 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by subwlf Wow.

]]> subwlf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188146 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188146 Politics Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:08:14 -0800 Comment by kiss pervert

]]> kiss http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188156 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188156 Politics Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:16:28 -0800 Comment by Justin I've gotten 2 absentee ballot request forms from the Wisconsin GOP even though I haven't lived there for well over a year. The strange thing is, they weren't sent to my old WI address and forwarded, and they weren't even sent to my first Seattle address, they were sent to my new appartment in Seattle (I moved in July).

Aside from being bad (blaming the Democrats for the "excesses on Wall St") I wonder if the WI GOP is trying to encourage me to illegally register for an absentee ballot there so that they can turn around and blame me for committing voter fraud.

Am I being paranoid?

]]> Justin http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188158 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188158 Politics Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:18:01 -0800 Comment by blaire with an e Wow, I went to school with the token minority girl

]]> blaire with an e http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188162 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188162 Politics Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:20:19 -0800 Comment by elenchos Definitely the key to passing Prop 1 is to swing the critical ironic urbanite vote. Sarcasm! Yeah, that'll grab em'.

]]> elenchos http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188179 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188179 Politics Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:30:02 -0800 Comment by AGH Hey, there are mutliple people of color in that mailer - didn't anyone see the Asian guy featured on the back? Or the Latino with in the group on the front?

Best AND the worst, not bad for a transit campaign!

]]> AGH http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188187 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188187 Politics Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:37:35 -0800 Comment by SeMe Erica, you're a bit of a nerd. In a nice sort of way.

]]> SeMe http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188203 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188203 Politics Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:49:49 -0800 Comment by Darcy I don't think I saw any particularly noteworthy mailers this year, but our Incumbent Tool here in SC District 1, Henry E. Brown, did put Oh Henry! candy bars in with some of his boring mailers. My mother happily ate hers whilst marking her ballot for Linda Ketner.

]]> Darcy http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188209 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188209 Politics Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:52:01 -0800 Comment by Oz K. Fodrotski I received desperate, pleading missives from the Ted Stevens and Don Young campaigns in Alaska (the former having been convicted of corruption, the latter under investigation for it).

Both arrived a couple days after I had mailed my absentee ballot, containing votes for their Democratic opponents. Sorry, guys, you were a bit slow on the ball (not that it would have helped).

]]> Oz K. Fodrotski http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188223 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188223 Politics Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:10:20 -0800 Comment by Christian oh come on erica! your real beef with the 'pen' mailer is that it is an earnest message of empowerment as opposed to snarky sarcasm. i prefer the latter too...but this is SEATTLE for crissakes and people here are EARNEST...and a little on the white side.

your too-quick critique of the lack of diversity (corrected by agh@6) is also, i may add, likely part of your longstanding knee jerk reaction to seeing the grinning face of rob johnson--who may in fact be the whitest guy in the entire RTA district through no fault of his own bellevue bred genes...

]]> Christian http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188234 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188234 Politics Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:22:01 -0800 Comment by michael Erica,

TV ads. My admittedly biased nomination for best

http://parksandgreenspaceslevy.ning.com/video/2225951:Video:4611

I tried to give links to more, but they get caught by the comments thread spam filter.

]]> michael http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188250 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188250 Politics Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:37:36 -0800 Comment by Just Sayin' That Yes on Proposition 1 doorhanger thing was easily the worst designed campaign piece I've ever seen.

]]> Just Sayin' http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188270 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188270 Politics Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:54:34 -0800 Comment by V The Realtors PAC has been sending me a lot of horrible shit I don't care about, but it's on high-quality paper.

Also, my partner is freaked out by the photos of Dino Rossi's kids. He thinks one of them practically has a hairlip.

Too mean?

]]> V http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188275 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188275 Politics Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:57:14 -0800 Comment by whatwhat Party pieces (mail or otherwise) usually end up being the worst because they're so constrained in what they can say if it's paid for from certain accounts. Can't directly advocate for one candidate, can't advocate against another, etc.

So it's a generic mess to start with... and on top of it, pieces paid for with those certain types of funds are usually approved and turned around at the last minute so everything is rushed, especially the design.

People probably thought the arrow was clever and eye-catching when they were designing it half-drunk late at night and gave it no thought.

There you have it - the terrible Secret Origin of poorly designed party campaign material!

]]> whatwhat http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188422 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/this_years_best_and_worst_campaign_maile#c1188422 Politics Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:37:01 -0800