Copyright 2010 Ben S. Pollock
Dear Democratic and Republican parties of Arkansas, and all the interest groups at sea:
On behalf of the news media of the state — and independent blogs such as this, seeing that the corporate media don’t pay me to represent them but instead to shape text — I want to thank you in advance for keeping us solvent through fall.
The primaries, now over with after Tuesday’s runoffs, show how generous you are. Every congressional seat is open, and incumbents in three of the four are moving on. That creates a lot of confusion that will need advertising to clarify. Who is who and what will they do? Voters need to know each candidate intimately, now that the primaries winnowed them down after your slight introductions.
The Senate race is the main one we expect will keep our wallets above water. National organized labor was reported to have spent roughly $10 million on Democratic Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, who lost yesterday. Imagine that, in this small and non-union state. Labor doesn’t have the kind of money corporations do, by definition, so we expect to see more accounts opening soon. Incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln is big in agriculture, for starters. Her opponent is the outgoing Republican congressman from Wal-Mart, rather, Northwest Arkansas. Surely John Boozman will need lots of promotion to propound the pro-business, pro-church policies he supports.
It’s interesting how the candidate marketing world has changed. Every commercial Internet site I looked at in recent weeks sported campaign advertising — from Arkansas. How did you know not to show me South Carolina races online — wink wink?
One thing though: Those robo-calls. They don’t work. They can backfire. Automatic, prerecorded phone calls are fake, annoying and incessant. You can’t seriously think they persuade, do you? If they’re from a candidate you support, you forgive them. If they’re from those you oppose, it makes hanging up within 2 seconds that much sweeter. It’s as satisfying as hitting mute when campaign video spots shout from the TV.
Want to be more effective? Advertise your candidate — and corporate givers, advertise the attitude you want the candidate to pursue — in newspapers. Our reporters will still dig hard at everything political, and with luck even find juicy stuff on you, but real news is what attracts readers. Passion about what makes their world is what makes them paper subscribers — and voters.
See? You can’t miss. Can’t lose.
Can’t win, either, but that’s just life.
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