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From Walksheet.com: What’s Worse – The Wrong Election Date or Wrong Polling Hours on Campaign Mailer?

November 1, 2011 in City Council, Direct Mail, election, Elections, incorrect information, misleading, negative, News by Walksheet.com | Permalink

Last week, we wrote about a great mailer effectively utilizing an opponent’s outburst at City Council – that unfortunately had the wrong Election Date on it.

Today, which marks a week until hundreds of municipal elections across the country, we see a mailer that shows the wrong polling place hours on it.

From NewsWorks.org:

In the Northeast Philadelphia City Council race, incumbent Brian O’Neill’s campaign has filed complaints with the city board of elections, the city board of ethics and the District Attorney’s office about mailings that have reached voters touting the candidacy of his Democratic opponent, Bill Rubin.

…

O’Neill’s folks are steamed because the mailer doesn’t say who paid for it – a violation of the state election code – AND because the mailer has the wrong hours for voting on November 8th. As you can see above, it says that polls open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m..

In fact, polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The O’Neill campaign says the mailer is going to Republicans who would likely vote for their guy, making it look like a deliberate effort to mislead voters.

It also dovetails in nicely with a recent article we did about Independent Expenditures not helping your campaign…this mailer was an IE by AFSCME.

It could also be a dirty trick by the campaign, as the Republican opponent claims.  They say the mailer went to Republican households?

We vote on the side of the wrong election day, since that’s enough to keep people away altogether.

What do you think?

From Walksheet.com: A Few “Dirty” Tricks Candidates Pull Online

October 28, 2011 in campaign website, Campaign Wisdom, dirty tricks, election, Elections, Negative Campaigning, onlinecandidate.com, Technology by Walksheet.com | Permalink

Shane Daley is the owner of OnlineCandidate.com, which provides political campaign websites  for candidates running for local office. For one low price, they offer a quality website designed to effectively broadcast your campaign message 24/7.

Savvy local election candidates can use the web to their advantage and run virtual rings around an opponent who has less online experience. Here are three tactics that candidates sometimes to gain an online advantage over an opponent. Only one of these tricks is really ‘dirty’, though. Guess which one!

1. Stealing a domain name. This can be painful if your opponent registers your name as a domain name. You can try to get the name for yourself, but that can take time and become an unneccessary distraction. If an opponent registers a domain of your name, does nothing with it and does not send the traffic to another site, you might want to move on and register a different name.

2. Backlinking bad things about a political opponent. This really isn’t a ‘dirty trick’, and it’s a strategy that any campaign can implement. Basically, you take a bad or embarrassing article about an opponent and link to it from as many places as possible. (Facebook, Twitter, bookmark sites, etc.) This works better on smaller campaigns with less overall online exposure. Done properly, you may be able to ‘push’ up that item in the search results for people searching for that person. One tip – use the candidate’s name as the text of the link!

3. Micro sites. This is where a campaign sets up a small website that focuses on a single issue or a flaw of an opponent. These sites are typically negative by nature. By targeting a more specific audience, you can provide with a single point of reference. One advantage of this technique is that you can keep ‘negative’ material off of your main campaign site.

There are, of course, much nastier things being done online between political opponents. Of course we don’t advocate stealing domain names, but back-linking and building micro-sites are effective tactics – particularly if they are backed by facts and the truth.

 

From Walksheet.com: Direct Mail: Candidates Get Painted By a Bad City Council Brush

October 28, 2011 in City Council, Direct Mail, election, Elections, politics by Ed Miranda | Permalink

All the way from Vancouver, Washington comes this controversial mailer sent by an independent group on behalf of two candidates running for city council. This mailer recalled an episode during a council meeting in which Councilwoman Jeanne Harris called out a citizen for pointing a finger at the council members.

Here’s the breakdown:

Issue: Politicians in Vancouver are allegedly disconnected from the people they swore to represent. Their opponents say, the current council members are consumed with gaining and keeping power.  Now, the city is in a state of social and economic turmoil.

The Bad Guy: While the mailer depicts Councilwoman Jeanne Harris and Mayor Tim Leavitt (who are actually not up for re-election), the antagonist here is clearly supposed to be the out-of-touch city council–some of whom are up for re-election.

Achilles Heel: The clear silver bullet was the central tagline, “GAVEL THEM DOWN! GAVEL THEM DOWN!” This resurfaced bad memories from Councilwoman Harris’ outburst. By connecting this to the list of problems facing Vancouver, the mailer is able to discredit the city councils’ integrity and effectiveness.

Summary: One side of the mailer does it job well by resurfacing a well known event that is a clear example of a politician’s disconnect. In this case it was Councilwoman Harris’ memorable, “GAVEL HIM DOWN!” The mailer also connects the city council with all the problems facing the city of Vancouver. The other side of the mailer depicts two candidates for city council, Bill Turlay and Josephine Wentzel, with their credentials. They are separated by a tree in the center, symbolic of spring and new life. The tagline reads, “Vancouver needs a fresh start. Vote for change on November 6th” The new candidates for council now represent that fresh start.

Bottom Line:  Arrogant politicians that do a bad job create a perfect storm.

With that being said, it should be mentioned that the piece did have two errors; the election is on November 8th, and Vancouver does not have the lowest unemployment in the state.

Here is the video of the notorious outburst, and below that, a closer look at the mailer.

 

From Walksheet.com: Political Photos: 4 Tips for a Good Walk Piece

October 14, 2011 in brochure, Campaign Wisdom, candidate, election, How To, precinct walk, walk piece by Walksheet.com | Permalink

In this article, we’re not getting to the meat and/or heart of your walk piece, but rather some important tips that go to the overall approach to your brochure.

Some Helpful Reminders for a Successful Walkpiece

1. Be Positive! As we descrived in a past post, the first impression of a candidate should be a positive one. Include a mix of biography, endorsements, and even issues, but make sure that the issues highlight positive changes.

Sometimes a challenger has to highlight some negatives in order to convince people that a change must be made. In this case, make sure to make the tone of your whole piece more positive and larger than the negatives you may have to point out.

2. Shoot for longevity. Your walkpiece is going to be with you for the whole campaign. Make sure that the issues you highlight are broad enough to last for more than two or three months. Also, make sure that the message and theme that is conveyed through your words and your pictures will be the same through election night.

3. Appeal to everybody. Since you are handing your walk piece directly to the voter, this is the piece they may actually keep, instead of immediately throw away. It also sets the tone for your campaign, and as you walk precincts, you want to be able to carry the same message to all parts of the district. You can vary and tweak the message for the neighborhood or demographic of the voter, but do it with your words and not the walkpiece.

4. “Sorry I missed you.” Have a space where you can write those words in case the voter isn’t home. Take a half hour before you walk and write out a bunch of them before hand, and then carry them with you to save time. This adds a special touch when voters aren’t home.

From Walksheet.com: Political Photos: Five Common MistakesElections Happening Today – October 4, 2011

October 4, 2011 in alaska, City Council, county council, election, Elections, governor, Mayor by Walksheet.com | Permalink

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Sheriff Special Election – Jones County 

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County Council – Colleton County 

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Special Election for Governor 

Elections happen every week in the U.S.–if not every day!  Are we missing any? If so, email us at contact@walksheet.com and check in again for next Tuesday’s elections.

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