Ok, we have yard signs, we have forums, we have blogs, we have... you get the idea. We have a campaign with 22 candidates all out there trying to drum up votes. So to measure it's effect, the other night at Glacier Ice Cream I offered a dollar tip for each candidate they could name. $22.00 in free money.
So between 3 employees and about 12 customers (for $22.00 they were asking everyone for help) they were able to name... exactly... no one. This includes one person who knows she jogs by yard signs for 3 different candidates but had no idea what their names are. And these people vote...
Ok, so what's happening? Not a whole lot.
- The transit village is something most residents are aware of. No strong feelings for most but they are aware of it. This may be the big issue of the campaign but I don't think it will matter that much.
- Macon Cowles appears to be leading the fund-raising effort as he is the first and only to get matching funds from the city so far.
- Crystal Gray is back from her son's wedding and is going to start campaigning. She is starting way behind in name recognition at Glacier :). Actually it's nice to see a candidate put family first.
- Andrew Harrison, Nabil Karkamaz, and Lisa Morzel may have also been at Crystal Gray's son's wedding as none of them have answered any of the Daily Camera's first 3 questions. Guys (meant in a gender neutral way) - campaigning means actually doing something. And the Camera posts are the absolute best ROI effort for votes.
- Seth, Rob, and Jann Scott are all very upset about something. What it is is not clear but apparently everyone else in Boulder is in cahoots either for or against it (not sure which).
- I am worried about Hillary Hall's ability to accurately count the votes. Hopefully the main website is not indicative of their IT competence in the rest of the clerk's office but many times it is a good indication of their skills.
- FIDOS is my favorite of the groups interviewing candidates. Basically they want candidates who enjoy time with their pets and take them for walks on open space. And they don't throw their weight around, they list preferences but they don't work to be a powerful voting block.
Ok, time for an editorial comment rant. Seth, Rob, and Jan Scott are upset by, I think (the emails are not clear), Seth and/or Rob not being invited to a candidate forum and/or not being included in the televised part because they are banned from BTV (which I assume is the city funded TV channel boondoggle). A couple of observations on this:
- It is not fraud or a violation of your constitutional rights or a violation of election laws for a private entity to exclude candidates unless that exclusion is based upon race, gender, or religion.
If FIDOS chooses to only allow candidates who own dogs in their forum, that is their right.Freedom of speech does not include the right of you to force others to listen to you.
Update: What I wrote here was sloppy - I was using FIDOS as a hypothetical but the way I worded the previous sentence it could be construed as a specific example. I apologize. Here is what I should have said: For example, if the Acme Choir chooses to only allow candidates who sing a-capella in their forum, that is their right. As far as I know, FIDOS does not even have a candidate forum. - Why on earth is the city funding public access in the age of YouTube? No one watches BTV. Never, ever, in 11 years living here have I ever heard of a single person watching it. Channel 8 (slogan - "more effective then NyQuill") is watched occasionally. But not BTV. And if you shoot a good video, put it up on YouTube. If it's worth watching it will get millions of hits. And if it doesn't it's not that the system is suppressing the truth, it's that your video is booooring.
- The fact that someone disagrees with you does not mean they are evil. In some cases they may even be right and you wrong in their estimation of what approach to a problem would work best.
- There is not some central group running Boulder. There are numerous interest groups with substantial political power. But they tend to be at odds with each other. There is definitely not some secret group that calls all of us and tells us how to vote. Or if they do call our house they get my wife instead of me.
Can the council please drop this turkey (public access TV)? It takes up an inordinate amount of Council time and is less accessible than just posting to YouTube.
Update: Jann Scott & Co. has gone the YouTube route. Its at www.BoulderChannel1.com and it's quite impressive.
