Too bad they don’t sell ads on the local (what my grandfather called) Irish sports page…that’s surefire place to reach the over 65 demographic.
Barring that, I’d go for an article with the local Mayor or Senior Center Director endorsing. Unlike most State Senators and State Reps who will talk support, Mayors will actually move votes to the polls on election day for their favorite candidates. Given a choice, give me the mayors….selectman, city councilors, school committee members…they turn out voters in local elections, the hardest elections…they know where the good voters are.
And what about organizations endorsements?
Depends on which organization…local Democratic Ward and Town Committees have shrunken to a weak facimile of past glory days..in very few places are they more than an aging collection of local characters…they hate making phone calls but will hold a sign for an hour before their hair appointment or bingo.
Labor unions? Depends which. AFL-CIO? Ask Lt. Gov. Slattery… Mass. Nurses? Ask Lt.Gov. Evelyn Murphy… MTA? Ask Lt. Gov. John Kerry In a tight contest, even their diminished efforts/mailings may make a slight difference.Low turnout increases their worth.
TV Ads…well, of course. Over $2 million in TV spots trumps opponents with only 1/4 of that on the air…repetition counts even for an otherwise weaker candidate…so in a low turnout race where only the die-hard, interested voters show up, will the ability to use personal fortune to buy ads be the deciding factor? It could. But, I am not sure.
Field organization…in the Lt. Gov. race this year, Murray has the edge especially in Central MA and the small cities where he will have the help of 27 mayors…Goldberg has no field, no need to (her strategy was to win on tv, not on pavement), Andrea has small pockets of the left-leaning women scattered across the state but mostly in tonier suburbs (where they have actually seen a kayak in their lifetime) and upscale enclaves in Cambridge, Newton and Brookline (but there are votes there, too!)…but, like the support of organizations, the difference it makes may be small given the scope of the state and the fact that most activists are tied up with campaigns for governor.
Governor choice dictates #2 choice? Will voters favoring a gubernatorial candidate, cast that vote and then consider who will be their choice’s best partner on the ticket? Most won’t but some will. Balancing a ticket will have its place for some voters….that’s when geography, ethnicity, gender, religion, social class, education, address and any number of totally unrelated considerations come into play…only the shadow knows…
And on September 20, if we wake to find the Democratic standard-bearers live within a 10 mile radius and have no pressing need to fundraise or build field…will the Party (capital P) of the middle income men and women be a thing of the past?
What do you think?
Steinbrenner can’t actually buy a championship, but he can outspend everyone else and certainly improve the odds.
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If you like Steinbrenner and the Yankees, I guess you would like Gabrieli and Goldberg.
Gabrieli has done a lot of good with his self-made fortune…to schools, to charitable organizations, etc…in addition to funding his own campaign efforts…I am not familiar with Deval patrick’s charitable efforts or community service so I cannot speak with any authority about it…but at least if Gabrieli and Patrick, both millionaires, win, they are winning a powerful position.
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Goldberg’s self-funded campaign is just a bit strange to me because Lt. Gov. is a sidekick job…little if any power…taking assignments from the Governor who calls (ALL) of the shots…why would someone blow $2.5 million to get a job like that?
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(Please don’t say Lt. Gov.’s what you make of it, the last Lt. Gov. who tried to push her own agenda ended up personna non grata in the Dukakis Admin. for 4 excrutiatingly long years…remember the Herald cartoon with Evelyn tied and gagged in a chair in the State House basement?…which should serve as a ghost of Christmas future should Andrea “I am a CEO” Silbert win.)