Over in CD7, the Murff Campaign is accusing (here and in e-mails) the Henley campaign of massive overnight sign-stealing. Says candidate Murff:
Late last night, and into the early morning hours, I joined volunteers who placed "Murff for Congress" campaign signs at all polling locations, but it has now come to our attention that much of our effort has gone to waste.
Nearly every sign placed within loop 610 has been removed.
Who says Democrats are wusses?*
The Murff e-mail was followed by a classic reply from a salty precinct chairman who reminds us all not to put signs up until dawn on Election Day (which makes a lot of sense, although I wouldn't have ever thought of it myself).** Which would explain why, miraculously, a bajillion Garnet Coleman signs appeared at dawn. Today. Across the street.***
* (Not intended to condone sign-stealing.)
** The same e-mail suggests the sign-stealing was not done by Henley but by Republicans. Welcome to the Twilight Zone boys and girls...
*** This is the obligatory "Garnet Coleman is my hero" footnote.
UPDATE: In other, more official scuttlebutt, turnout today was expected to be low, according to Karl-Thomas. We shall see very soon how accurate his predictions are.
Posted by Jim Dallas on March 07, 2006 to Election 2006 | TrackBack[A] salty precinct chairman ... reminds us all not to put signs up until dawn on Election Day (which makes a lot of sense, although I wouldn't have ever thought of it myself).
Except for two things: early voting, and name recognition.
If signs are up well before someone casts their ballot, it helps build the candidate's name recognition. Not much point in putting a sign up if few will see it before they vote!
Early voting just makes the problem worse. Again, not much point in putting a sign up after half the voters have already cast their ballots!
Posted by: Mathwiz on March 7, 2006 5:35 PMI don't think he meant all signs, Mathwiz, just the ones *at the polling site* (it's a lot easier to monitor 10 early voting sites than 80 E-Day sites). Moreover, signs that go up on private property - your front yard - are probably less likely to get stolen than those put up in front of a polling site.
Posted by: Jim Dallas on March 7, 2006 6:48 PMWell, from what I was told tonight at my brief stop at the Henley party (which included speeches, mostly impromtu, by many former and current Henley students, including myself) -
anyways, I was told tonight by a man who helped put out the Henley signs that the Henley signs were put up before most other signs. That is, they too were put up last night. The Henley camp didn't really see any Murff signs, from what I understand.
Posted by: Michael Hurta on March 7, 2006 9:55 PMJimbo-The salty precinct chair, Bill Galbraith from Montrose, knows of what he speaks and certainly remembers his history.
There is more than one defeated candidate, not of County Commissioner Steve Radack's political party or persuasion who has seen their signs disappear because of Radack's manic attack on political signs....he has crews and he does it himself...one of the all time greats was the well documented meeting of Radack and his boys following then City Councilwoman Beverley Clark and taking down her signs just as soon as she put them up.
Remember Radack is a big R and tonight we owe him a thank you because he and his crew probably took care of Orlando Sanchez once and for all....
Posted by: Carl Whitmarsh on March 8, 2006 12:18 AM