Election Day
Election Day at the Rockville Centre Rail Road Station was pretty nuts. For the past month or so, with increasing regularity, one or several politicians for Nassau County government positions would greet me at the bottom or top of the escalator, or both. Now, maybe I'm a bit strange, but shaking a person's hand who has been sitting around around shaking hands for the past 2 hours is not my idea of a great first impression. The plastic smile tattooed to their face, the practiced firmness of the grip, the canned 'I need your support on Tuesday, November 8th' all left a bad taste in my mouth up until today, when it is finally all over with. Well, I'm guessing they'll be there when I get home from work, too.
My least favorite is Counselman Santino, who's big, sweaty hands have grossed me out on several occassions. I don't know what he stands for, but, despite all of his efforts to win me over in the past month, he will not receive my vote at the ballot box. No one will, actually. I have no knowledge of local government officials. All I know is that I hate the campaign as every day I see several garbage cans overflowing with unread flyers, etc. Knowing that this process isn't unique to Rockville Centre leads me to believe that every year around campaign time several (hundred) miles of trees are cut down for unread information on politicians on a nationwide basis. I really wish they could just give people cash. They've given me tic-tacs, they've given me donuts, they've given me pens. I used the tic-tacs and the donuts. I never read their ads, but they pay people money to design them and they pay money to print them. I wish they could just total the amount of money they'd spend on me and hand me that much money. I never read the info anyway, and I'd be much more inclined to vote for someone who gave me $5 or $10 then someone who is basically asking me to take this thing from them and put it over there in the garbage for me. I don't want to read a biased appraisal of someone at 7:30 in the morning.
I'd take a 5 Spot, though.
It'd be better for the environment, it'd be easier for the candidate, and people would appreciate it more. In a capitalist democracy, I really don't understand why this would raise such a red flag. The money wouldn't have to guarantee that you vote, just like you aren't guaranteed to read their flyers. I think everyone would be happier. The candidate with the bigger budget tends to win anyway.
How much money is wasted on a losing campaign? At least this way it'd be spread out more equitably
My least favorite is Counselman Santino, who's big, sweaty hands have grossed me out on several occassions. I don't know what he stands for, but, despite all of his efforts to win me over in the past month, he will not receive my vote at the ballot box. No one will, actually. I have no knowledge of local government officials. All I know is that I hate the campaign as every day I see several garbage cans overflowing with unread flyers, etc. Knowing that this process isn't unique to Rockville Centre leads me to believe that every year around campaign time several (hundred) miles of trees are cut down for unread information on politicians on a nationwide basis. I really wish they could just give people cash. They've given me tic-tacs, they've given me donuts, they've given me pens. I used the tic-tacs and the donuts. I never read their ads, but they pay people money to design them and they pay money to print them. I wish they could just total the amount of money they'd spend on me and hand me that much money. I never read the info anyway, and I'd be much more inclined to vote for someone who gave me $5 or $10 then someone who is basically asking me to take this thing from them and put it over there in the garbage for me. I don't want to read a biased appraisal of someone at 7:30 in the morning.
I'd take a 5 Spot, though.
It'd be better for the environment, it'd be easier for the candidate, and people would appreciate it more. In a capitalist democracy, I really don't understand why this would raise such a red flag. The money wouldn't have to guarantee that you vote, just like you aren't guaranteed to read their flyers. I think everyone would be happier. The candidate with the bigger budget tends to win anyway.
How much money is wasted on a losing campaign? At least this way it'd be spread out more equitably
posted by Jamson at 8:32 AM
2 Comments:
first of all, that kind of spending is illegal. you're not allowed to buy votes with cash. also, certain types of handouts can be considered "gifts" which are also illegal. the bloomberg campaign spent about $100 per voter, and while i agree that i would've liked to have gotten that in cash, i think it was well spent.
true, the large majority of print ads go unread, but a large majority of them also inform the voters about candidates. especially minority voters. i handed out thousands of pieces of lit during this past campaign, and i must say that minority voters took the lit and actually read it on the scale of 10:1 versus white folk.
my other beef is that if you don't like printed materials so much, why don't you check out the web to get info on the candidates? either their respective websites or nassau county board of elections website? i'm sure there's plenty of info (at least on the viable candidates).
handshakes are incredibly important in a campaign...i would never vote for someone with fat, sweaty hands, regardless of their political views (i may be proven wrong some day, but i'm willing to take my chances on this one).
the plastic smile and rote responses are just the symbols of a bad campaigner though. doesn't mean they're a bad politician or person.
Keep in mind I never believed this posting to have any valid arguments and sometimes I just get grumpy from shaking Counselman Santino's meaty paws in the morning and sometimes I wished he greased my palms with legal tender rather than perspiration.
Regardless, I'm not suggesting that a person with a bigger bankroll and a terrible agenda should win the agenda, it just seems to happen that way (And I, ignorantly, really only follow national politics. And again, I'm just being grumpy about W.)
I'm guessing you could assume that the show put on by Nassau County small-timers is not as professional or concentrated as one put on by a titan of the business world. Hell, just because of the size of the audience and the size of the effort and funding, the New York City Mayoral Campaign could be the most effective, or at least most centralized, in the nation.
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