Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Politics: Campaign Shenanigans

The best Virginia political site on the web, Not Larry Sabato, has posted a hilarious letter from a local Congressional race, where Republicans are complaining about the Democrat using an elephant logo on his yard signs:

Lauren Brown Sigler
Associate Counsel
Republican National Committee
310 First Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003

VIA FACSIMILE: (202) 863-8654

Ms. Sigler:

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you earlier today. I am writing to recap our conversation.

I am in receipt of your letter dated today. I respectfully disagree that we have utilized the official logo of the Republican National Committee. The image of the elephant we used in our vastly popular “Republicans for Ferguson” signs is one that we created with a blue body and white stroke and a white top with three upright stars. Your logo does not have stroke around the elephant and your stars are turned upside down, much like those in the Satanic tradition.

By no means am I accusing all Republicans of being Satanists. I personally know some who are not.

I understand that you may be alarmed by Mr. Ferguson’s popularity among centrist Republicans. May I humbly suggest you take that up with Delicate Dudley.

If the RNC would like to utilize the logo I created, sans Satanic references, I am certainly open to licensing discussions. Please be advised that if you use my logo without my permission (read compensation,) I will be forced to consider a legal remedy.

Sincerely,

Joe Stanley
Campaign Manager

HA! The Republicans made a classic campaign mistake, talking to their opponents. You should never email, call, or come within 100 feet of your opponents or their campaign events. Ignore your opponent, and treat everything they say as a lie and a fabrication. Your job is to communicate your message directly to the voters. Don't complain to your opposite Campaign Manager. Complain directly to the press or in paid media, and make sure its something that sticks. Kudos to Joe Stanley for cleverly playing the Republicans.

FYI, Larry Sabato is a University of Virginia Professor and who is quoted in 90% of stories about Virginia politics. The reason why is that he basically repeats the obvious and confirms rumors, which often turn out to be completely unfounded.

The couple, expecting their first child, have been shopping for real estate around Charlottesville. British tabloids claim it's a done deal; we will only go so far as to report that they checked out at least one country estate a few weeks ago.

It was about that time that party officials started batting Affleck's name around. "It's spread pretty widely, at least in the political underground," University of Virginia professor Larry Sabato, Virginia's premier pundit, told Michael Shear, The Post's Richmond correspondent.

Thus the cleverly named (well, clever to me and the five other people in the world who follow this) Not Larry Sabato.
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