When I ran campaigns for a living, nothing annoyed me more than a candidate obsessing about yard signs. And I do mean obsessing. I worked for one candidate whose spouse was so psychotic over yard signs, for the final weeks of the campaign, the staff lined every route the spouse traveled, right before the spouse traveled it, with the candidate’s yard signs, just to spare themselves the phone call later that night about how there are no yard signs out there.
Now that I’m running for office myself, this obsession is beginning to plague me. My eye is trained for the perfect yard sign location. When I talk to a supporter who I know lives in a particularly yard sign friendly spot, I make the ask for the yard sign, right then and there. I don’t even have a yard sign designed yet, let alone in my possession. But my brain is making a map of them already.
So now that I’m on the other side of this obsession, what have I learned about why candidates obsess over yard signs? I think there is a natural tendency to want to “see” the campaign. It gets awful lonely when the litany of campaign letdowns start to pile up. People making promises they won’t keep, phone calls going unreturned, the media always ignoring you unless they can take a shot at you, constantly introducing yourself to complete strangers….it all piles up to make you feel, well, on your own. When you see a yard sign, bingo. Instant external validation.
For my campaign, yard signs are going to be a bigger deal. Because of the nature of my criminal conviction, it is going to be important not only for me, but for my supporters, and potential voters to see that other people are out there supporting my candidacy. Sure, the support is there, it’s real, and it’s getting wider and stronger everyday…but the external, and public validation of your support for a candidate is underlined by seeing the candidate’s yard signs in your neighborhood, in front of houses of folks you know.
So I officially apologize for being so annoyed by yard sign obsessed candidates, having become one myself. Ugh.
Tags: yard signs
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I love this blog entry, Tim. Love it. Two comments: 1 – Miesha Wilson Headon did the opposite of me – she didn’t use a single yard sign but knocked on 100s of doors, maybe 1000s, in Richmond Hts. Didn’t have the endorsements, not the mayor or the papers, the others ran as a slate, and she still won, and came out with the most votes – at-large race. On the other hand, I did the yard sign route, even though I too was told repeatedly, yard signs don’t vote. True but exactly as you say – the validation, for yourself, for the other people driving or walking by – it does make an impact. 2 – Have you thought about putting a “share this” tool on each blog post? I would have clicked it to share this on my Facebook and Twitter accounts. I’ll go ahead and link to it anyway from my FB account, but if you hadn’t thought about that for the posts, I do find myself using the “share this” buttons a lot these days from other news sources Thanks again for sharing this post.
[...] Why candidates for public office obsess over yard signs « Tim … [...]
Thanks Jill. My tech guy has his hands full with actually having a life, so we’re a bit slow on the whole “share” button thingie!
Shalom Tim,
I get your point about yard signs creating a feeling of supporting a winner, but I also think this may be an out-of-the-box moment for you and your campaign.
Jill makes good points.
I’m willing to cancel my student on Wednesday, 7 April, if others in the crew can stick around after the interview to brainstorm on just what a guerrilla alternative to yard sign might look like.
B’shalom,
Jeff
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[...] Why candidates for public office obsess over yard signs [...]
Hey Tim,
Let me know what I can do to help. Have limited money but have shoe leather and keyboard at the ready. I do come downtown 1-2 days a week. Will be downtown tomorrow and may try to vote in the primary as well. Let me know.
Thanks
Adrienne
Hello Tim,
I’m so glad you decided to run for office! Having a yard sign is extremely important for any campaign as you said. My friend stumbled upon campaignpros.com. Super easy to customize and reasonably priced. Hope this helps. Best of luck to you!
Lema