Seen from a single corner in my Medford neighborhood: five Deval Patrick yard signs. (For the record, my house doesn’t have one.) I don’t think I’ve seen a single Gabrieli or Reilly yard sign anywhere, much less in my area, and the Patrick bumper stickers are also much more in evidence than the other two. And this is Medford, not exactly the headquarters of the alleged loony left.
This is all pretty unscientific. But I’m guessing that if you care enough to plop a yard sign on your lawn, or even enough to stick a sticker on your bumper, you care enough to show up on Sept. 19. And things bein’ how they are, that’s good news for Patrick.
Please share widely!
I don’t know about that. Where I come from theres an old saying among all the town politicos: signs don’t vote. Ive personally put up plenty of signs on the lawns of friends and family members that I knew had no intention of voting at all, much less for the candidate I was supporting.
that you were putting up the signs? đŸ˜‰
He’s only giving signs to people who either requested them or actually bought them.
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I said I was willing to put up a sign a month or so ago on his website and just the other day they called asking if they could put one up, we said yes.
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Also, they sell their signs in the Deval Patrick store on the website… so lots of people who have had them up for months probably bought them.
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Either way, it shows a lot of support and is wholly different than Uncle Johnny running for Town Selectman who plops a sign up on all his neighbhors, cousins, friends and friends’ friends – whether they vote or not.
Q: What’s the difference between a Deval Patrick sign and a Gabrieli sign?
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A: People buy Patrick signs, people are paid to put up Gabrieli signs.
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p>Down here in the Brockton area, it’s business as usual with the lawn signs. They sent a guy with a pickup truck to Deval’s headquarters, loaded up the truck with signs– at no cost ;)– and now the ward and precinct co-ordinators are pushing them out to anyone that will take one. The area is covered pretty well. No different than what we do for any other race down here.
Don’t read too much into signs. Different towns have different traditions. Lexington and Medford virtually blossom in signs for elections, while Arlington and Belmont are sign-averse.
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However, there is a vacant storefront at the end of Market Street in Lowell that is always plastered in signs before any election. In the many years I have passed by this storefront, I can’t recall ever seeing a sign for my candidate in the window. This year, the window is filled with Deval Patrick signs. I think that’s an omen.
Since it was covered in John Cox (former Lowell City Manager) signs not too long ago, and the pro-Cox people in town tend to lean towards Reilly.
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For those interested in the latest on “As the Lowell City Council Turns,” check out Lynne’s excellent blog.
Tim, you and I posted at the same time…I didn’t use names, but yeah, anyway, the Council soap continues.
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I don’t care as long as we get Deval elected. I’m good with setting aside my considerable differences with the PTB in Lowell because it’s worth it!
And he did actually ask for the signs or wanted them up there. My co-coordinator dealt with that (I don’t think the, um, owner of the site would want to deal with me…that’s OK, we’re on the same side for Deval, and I’m good with that).
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There’s a buzz in Lowell about Deval…because some very unlikely people are coming together to support him. People that normally don’t really, er, stay in the same room together, or even talk at all. (Followers of my blog can probably guess who I’m talking about…)
in my apartment window, but only because I happened to get a Kennedy sign at the convention. I figure — what the heck, I’ll hold my environmental nose to support my health care face and workers’ rights head or somesuch.
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If I had a DP sign, it’d be in my window instead of Kennedy, that’s for sure.
Stormv –
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p> Send a quick note to visibility@DevalPatrick.com and Jane will get one to you right away.
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John Walsh
Campaign Manager
Deval Patrick for Governor
Positively littered with Reilly signs.
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You should see the street he lives on. It’s like a parade went through there.
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Of course, the number of people who drive down his street each day but don’t live there is probably around 15-20. so I’m not sure how many people are seeing these..
As you go around the rotary in Sullivan Square near the Schrafft’s Building there are dozens of Reilly signs. So many in such a small area that I can almost smell Reilly’s desperation perspiration.
I went to the Deluxe Town Diner on Sunday and noticed the Reilly signs up and down Mt Auburn Street. Beyond that though I have not seen any and there has been no noticable spill over in to Waltham.
…about the lack of signs in this race. I did notice a few after the Deval Store started offering them a while back. With the Deval Store, does that mean the campaign won’t be supplying them? As BFK points out, a fair amount of campaign folks say “signs don’t vote”. My feeling is they are a good indication of level of support a candidate has. You want to be with a winner and if you think Candidate X has more signs and by implication more support, then you vote for the winner.
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Although I ain’t paying the bills at these campaigns. And if 10,000 signs cost $20,000 (a wild guess…maybe high), that 20 grand can buy about 8 spots on the 6 and 11 pm news and reach about 400,000 folks with a message and not just a name–then I might jsut dump the signs. Or let people buy them on line.
I’ve got a trunk full of them.
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It’s limited, though — each town only gets so many and they encourage placement in visable locations.
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On the other hand, Reilly is going nuts with them here. I actually saw one behind the hedges of a house on tiny, never-travelled cross street. I only noticed it because we were about to ring the bell with Deval literature. No way a passing car would.
probably more like $40,000, once you count the little wire frames that they stand on.
That’s why I’d not do the shopping around here, I’ll the cereal and forget the milk.
I have not seen a single Reily sign. But the DP and CG signs are those garbage bag signs. I think that people just aren’t noticing them. What happened to the good old signs that the nice guys at the Carpenters’ Union would put together for you. I really hate the new trend of these tiny signs that you can’t see. The old days and the old signs were much better.
They’re the same garbage bag style.
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They’re cheap because, as people mentioned above, yard signs don’t vote.
Those late October wind storms are brutal on the old wooden signs.
A friendly Deval volunteer just plopped by my house to give me one. I actually like the plastic signs, they don’t look all that bad and they’re certainly easier to put up for people.
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Wooded ones are nice too, but I think the priorities right now are about right.
I have been a DP supporter since before the convention and i do NOT have a lawn sign or a bumper sticker! The reason being is #1 my street is not heavily travelled and knowing that DP campaign must count pennies to compete fincially with Chris “Deep Pockets” Gabrielli I chose NOT to cost the campaign the few dollars (and a volunteer’s time!) for a lawn sign. #2 my commute to work is 4 miles,mostly through residential streets, so once again poor visibility for a bumper sticker.
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However, last night I was at a DP visibility outside the Lowell Spinner’s game and has a specific request that instead of a bumper sticker this person I spoke to was “dying” to get a DP lawn sign! I not only made arrangements to have the sign delivered but I was able to obtain a signed pledge card for Deval!
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And for the poster above who knocked those who “bought” lawn signs… if I am going to INVEST good money in a sign you can bet your bottom dollar I am going to VOTE for whoever’s name is on that sign!
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Bottom line is when you have 7000 people pounding the pavement day after day and getting earaches from phone-calling then who needs lawn signs?
I’m happy that people are seeing signs for the people they want to see. In the town of East Bridgewater, a local business has a large Deval sign, other than that it’s all Gabrieli and Reilly. In Wareham and Middleboro, all I see is LG signs. Where I travel in Taunton, nothing at all.
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I’ll wait for the next poll, thanks.
Nancy Stolberg and John Walsh brought a boatload of Patrick signs to the volunteer rally in Worcester Tuesday night to complement the ration the campaign gave the town and senate district coordinators in the area. We’ve been getting them up in high-visibility locations, right along with the Murray signs.
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It’s getting to be crunch time…..
It is interesting to come back to the east coast and see the difference. Out in the south Berkshires where I live, there are tons of Deval signs. As you go farther north, you get Reilly signs in Pittsfield and Gabrieli signs higher up (stereotypically).
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Out here is another story. I’m in Waltham and I have only seen Reilly signs (and plenty of them). I have seen no Gabrieli signs, but interestingly, when I was in Chinatown, there were Deval Patrick signs written in Chinese in lots of shops.
I have not seen a signle Reilly sign in my area yet. I am on a low traffic, side street so chose not to take a lawn sign, but do have posters (Patrick and Silbert) from the convention in my apt window and am sporting a pair of bumper stickers as well.
So I guess Michael Callahan should have beaten Pat Jehlen
Callahan’s in like Flynn.
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Only if the polling places were at comedy clubs.
Hi Lightris,
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We in Waltham are just organizing to get our signs up. We have some left that have not been committed to folks. Do you want to have one? Do you know someone in Waltham who wants one? let me know and I will make sure you get one. I am one of the campaign coordinators for Waltham.
are you doing any sort of GOTV for Deval at Brandeis and Bentley? Just curious (Deval already has my vote via absentee ballot)
We are working closely with Brandeis and are actually going to be canvassing from there on Saturday. For more info contact mwaterbury@devalpatrick.com (darn I wish there were a way to PM people… not sure it appropriate for me to post our full plans here. Rhonda?) As for Bently I am not sure, if you have some contacts there let us know.
I don’t have contacts at bentley…im a brandeis student…ill send out an email to find out about tomorrow
That I work in the Main South section of Worcester, what people nicely would call an area of improvement and not-so-nicely call the ghetto. What’s interesting to me is to see at least 5-10 Healy/Hillman signs posted in the barred windows of abandoned storefronts, on the outside. The irony of this truly kills me…The most depressed area of the city is being hijacked by guerilla signposters for the candidate who will do the least for the disaffected. It also shows me how aloof the posters of these signs are to what is going on in the area they post them in. Truly, if there was a least likely stronghold of Healy supporters or those who could be swayed in that direction, it would be anyone who lives, works, or even commutes through Main South.
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Interesting…
I dream happy sugarplum dreams of a Patrick/Murray ticket.
That would be a great team. Both candidates bring out different core constituencies. Deval would inspire the solid blue vote, while Murray would solve the Democrats recent problems in gov races around Worcester and the bigger cities.
You made several comments on Friday, but somehow neglected to respond to my challenge from earlier this week!
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Luckily, if nothing else I’d like to make things convenient for you…by bringing the mountain to Mohammed.
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In your ongoing anti-charter school argument, you claimed the mega-study showing MA Charters SIGNIFICANTLY outperform their sending districts was flawed.
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Why? It did not, you explained, differentiate the “Regular charters” (Commonwealth) with the “Faux charters” (Horace Mann, which are a bit more independent than traditional schools, but are unionized and answer to the school district)
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And I pointed out. You make a reasonable claim. It happens to be a testable assertion!
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Is looking like Heavy Deval Territory, esp in Williamstown, North Adams.
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I’m seeing some Gabrieli activity, esp. up in the mountain, hillside areas but nothing to Deval.
Carrie and I had some business to do yesterday in the Andover/N. Andover area….
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A good number of Deval lawn signs; nothing at all for any of the other gubernatorial candidates whatsoever. Seemed surprising to us, given the territory. (Deval signs only outnumbered by Broadhust signs…. Must be an Essex County thing.)
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Tim Murray has a strong lawn sign presence — especially here in the Lowell area. A couple of Goldberg signs; none for Silbert (so far… we’re still waiting for ours to arrive!).