I See the Signs Now

Harry Mitchell's campaign has been putting up signs in Tempe and south Scottsdale for the past few weeks. It seems he is targetting the areas that would be the best bet for Democratic turnout.

I have a problem with that, though. I was driving through west Chandler and Ahwatukee this past week and I haven't seen any Mitchell signs. Ahwatukee might be leaning right, but west Chandler is up for grabs as it is mostly composed of new move-ins from all over the place. My friends who live and work in north Scottsdale said they see J.D. Hayworth signs, but no Harry Mitchell signs.

Harry's campaign has been doing a great job thus far. I would like to see more signs in heavily Republican areas, though. This will be our chance, the Democrats chance to re-align a huge portion of the electorate. Yeah, that's optimistic speculation, but I think it can happen. It won't happen if Democrats abandon whole swaths of their districts that lean Republican.

I don't think Harry will do that, though. He needs to get his name recognition up in Chandler, Scottsdale, and Fountain Hills. Harry is a pragmatic politician and the moderate voters of this district will vote for pragmatism. But first, they need to know who he is. I wish some polling was done on name recognition and favoribility ratings.

Driving through Tempe, one can't help but notice J.D.'s lame signs. "Please don't steal this sign, Harry"? You got to be kidding me. Are you running for Congress, J.D., or for fourth grade class president?

Then, J.D. releases a press release solely to brag about these signs. You think Todd Sommers would have something better up his sleeve. So, not only is Todd's brilliance good enough to come up with those snipes, but he then takes a step further and accuses Mitchell of stealing the snipes.

Given Mitchell's past sign stealing, for which he faced criminal charges, [Note: for which he was cleared] the new signs are helpful reminders meant to help Mitchell and his supporters fight the urge. They will be going up all around the fifth district. In a disappointing development, however, it has already been reported by the campaign's sign vendor that several of the snipes have been stolen.

"I have to hand it to the Mitchell camp and its supporters, they move pretty fast," said Hayworth spokesman Todd Sommers. "Maybe now we'll have to get snipes asking them not a steal our snipes."

[emphasis mine]

Let me see if I can put myself in their situation. They put up the signs and then attach the snipes. Oh, wow, they must think they are so clever! Then they realize how juvenile and cheap the trick is... not so clever after all. So, let's use an idiotic tactic and make stuff up about the opponent. Let's accuse Mitchell of stealing the snipes.

Excuse me while I use some eye drops... the act of rolling them over and over again can make them dry and tired.

When I was in Tempe, I noticed a few J.D. signs without the snipes. So, either the snipes were never there and Hayworth's team is lying. Or they were taken down by someone who was willing put themselves in legal jeopardy to actually help J.D. out.

Because that's what the person who took the snipes (if they were even taken) is really doing... saving J.D. from a lot of embarrassment.

Update: Some friends of mine and I went to Bartlett Lake to do some wakeboarding and tubing this morning. Damn, I'm sore. Going north on Pima from the 101 to about Thompson Peak Parkway, I saw at least six Harry Mitchell signs. Awesome.