Are Romney mailings on target or off target?
Every election season, I get lots of political mail, mostly from Republicans. I don’t know if that’s because a) I live in Botetourt County, a predominantly Republican-voting county so the GOP considers it a good bet to blanket the county or b) maybe the Republicans just rely more on mailings than the Democrats do. I don’t vote in party primaries, donate money to political candidates, or even take part in polls, so I can’t imagine I’ve done anything to get on either side’s list — other than be your generic registered voter.
So I’ve been very curious this election season to open my mailbox and find it stuffed with mailings from the Romney campaign — all addressed to my 23-year-old daughter.
Romney hasn’t sent me a single mailing, but my daughter (who likewise hasn’t voted in a party primary or been a political activist) is getting several mailings each week.
Are they targeting her because of her age? If you figure younger voters went heavily for Obama last time, then it’s smart politics for the Republicans to try to slice off some of them this time if they can.
Yet most of the pieces she’s been getting don’t appear to target her directly. Instead, she’s gotten multiple pieces such as this one, which arrived yesterday, that focuses on coal mining:
One of several pro-coal mailings my daughter has received.
Inside, the flier goes to to say:
* “President Obama is hammering away at American coal.”
* “Barack Obama: Coal Can’t Afford Another Four Years.”
* “Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan support American coal.”
Now, I have no idea how my daughter feels about coal — I’ve never asked her. But demographically speaking, umm, is this really the best message to send to a 23-year-old voter in a county that’s several hours away from the nearest coal mine? Or has some mailing house made a mistake — and somehow concluded that Botetourt County must be coal mining country? Granted, you don’t have to live in a coal county to have feelings about coal one way or another, but still . . . it just struck me as not well-targeted.
On the other hand, in addition to yesterday’s coal mailing, she also received this one, which did seem better designed for a 23-year-old female voter:
Another mailing my daughter received.
I thought this was going to be a jobs piece. And it is, sort of, I suppose — but it’s mostly about welfare. Inside, it accuses Obama of “taking the work out of welfare.”
I would have thought a more on-target message would have been about the economy — with Romney making the case that Obama’s policies have hurt, not helped, young adults just entering the workforce.
But so far, she hasn’t seen any mailings that say anything about that.
Does anyone else find this curious? Anyone else getting interesting mailings? Anyone seen an Obama mailing?
– Dwayne Yancey, senior editor
September 21, 2012 - 2:00 PM
Dwayne, You list two pictures but only describe what the first one is about (coal).
What does the other one say?
The Romney campaign had all this money and they needed some place to put it. They couldn’t buy ALL of the tv air time in the area so some staffer (or committee) of staffers with no concept of demographics came up with this method of wasting money. Now it turns out they don’t have as much money as they thought they would because the Suo
per Pacs are jumping ship and spending their money to elect or reelect troglodytes like Morgan Griffith. I bet they wish they had back some of the money they have spent on ineffective trash like this.
The Obama campaign communicates primarily by email, twitter, facebook, and text messages.. And they are good at it.
Dwayne, you get to the heart of what’s wrong with Morgan Griffith too. Coal is only important to a small percentage of the population, workers, and economy in southwest VA. Yet, he (they) feel compelled to bow to the black gold gods. The only explanation is that interests groups comprise many coal magnates and contribute large sums of cash. There’s no way the strategists see this as a way to sway the majority of the voters. It’s pandering to the desires of the few major contributors, perhaps the most significant actors in the politicians’ play.
Kathie — see just below the second photo. The message of the second one is about welfare and accuses Obama of “taking the work out of welfare.”
Specifically it goes on to say: “In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed bipartisan welfare reform into law to require people on welfare to work, not just collect a check.
“It was the right thing to do.
“Today, Barack Obama has ended welfare as we know it.
“President Obama took the work out of welfare — ending the work requirements that President Clinton, John Kerry and even Joe Biden supported.
“President Obama has a long history of not supporting work for welfare.”
@Dave @Rick – unfortunately politicians have to keep their advertising collateral in line with the average American voter.
If you are keeping up with the big picture, and understand what is happening with outlook for the US$ as the global currency resource and how an adverse outcome will affect oil, we will be glad that we didn’t let the EPA destroy coal in this country.
You’re absolutely right, Rick. Higher education employs far more persons than coal mining in Southwest Virginia. But, you wouldn’t know it from the ads and rhetoric of Griffith and other Republicans. And, those coal miners don’t look too happy, probably because they were required to be props for the Romney campaign by their bosses.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81421.html
I came across another Romney mailing she received — it focused on Social Security and Medicare. Now, there’s certainly a way for Republicans to frame their positions on those issues in a way that speak to a 20-something voter; but all the imagery on the mailing and the words were directed instead at a much older voter.
– Dwayne Yancey
I came across another Romney mailing she received — it focused on Social Security and Medicare. Now, there’s certainly a way for Republicans to frame their positions on those issues in a way that speaks to a 20-something voter; but all the imagery on the mailing and the words were directed instead at a much older voter.
– Dwayne Yancey
Since I have gotten Romney literature, I am not sure they actually “target” so much as firebomb.
The EPA has not done as much to coal as natural gas has and since that has been coming for some time, the industry is just whining through their mouthpiece at this point. Nothing Romney or Griffith can do about natural gas being cleaner and cheaper than coal. Which is why all the posturing with so few facts. The EPA as the great bogeyman with little to back that up.
Kathie, how could I be so uninformed? Silly me! You’re so right that coal will save our new economy. Everywhere I travel, that’s all people talk about is coal, how to get more, and how to burn it. No wonder such areas as SWVA and states like WV and KY are so well off. It’s saved those areas for decades. CNBC just did a special report on the importance of coal to the world economy.
Dwayne,
My kids are in their 20′s and they are darn tootin interested in SS and Medicare because
1) they are paying into SS and neither one of them think it will be there when they retire and
2) they are interested in all healthcare with the new taxes that were passed in the Affordable Heathcare Act
As a parent I feel an obligation to encourage them learn and understand not only what is happening in the next year, but what do they think about long term goals and what is happening today that will impact them – both positively and negatively.
I suppose I could just point them to Facebook or Tweets to form their opinions – or maybe Letterman if they can stay up that late and still get to work on time the next day.
@Rick – you must travel in large circles, I am impressed.
Do those elitist that you freely converse in your inner circles talk about the total energy policy or is that a sidebar conversation after talking about how higher education has led their kids to leaving feces on streets with their protests of not being able to get a high dollar job (which they are not prepared for) after their liberal indoctrinated education that came with a bloated price tag because our universities are run amuck with overpaid union professors failed them, Rick?
Sounds to me like you consider yourself better than the poor people of Appalachia. Isnt’ it the job of liberals to help the poor, or is it to keep them poor for their votes. I am confused…
BTW, we are the Saudia Arabia of Coal, did you ever check to see what percentage of our energy comes from that industry? I’ll save you the bother, it is just under 50%. That is 5-0 (fifty) percent.
@Sandi – back to our previous blog on another subject today. Where is the 4:1 conservative attack on the lefties – where am I missing it? Oops, or is that another … another… what exactly would you call it, Sandi, it was your claim.
tsk.tsk.tsk… such fun
Sounds like a viable poster to send your daughter…or anyone…If they have any idea what a job means.
A MUST READ…`the Amateur, Barack Obama in the White House`…and the author once worked at the New York Times !!!!!!!!!!!
#16 Come on Doto, if you’re going to repeat the same post all over the blogosphere, you could at least copy a link into your copied and pasted post.
Kathie, your assumptions and inferences are amazing. I never talked about traveling extensively, in large groups, stated that I’m in higher education, or that I’m liberal. You are wrong on all counts. WHEN I travel and talk to people doesn’t mean that’s all I do. The small biz I own doesn’t depend on coal and neither does most of our region’s economy. For Morgan Griffith, and now Romney, to focus on coal is misguided. The EPA, no matter what you think if them, is not what’s wrong with our economy. Attacks on it and defense of coal are simply arguments to placate donors. Do you really believe coal will enable SWVA to flourish, even if there were zero regulations? To borrow a recent campaign slogan, coal didn’t build all of SWVA’s economy and it sure as heck isn’t going to save it. I hope you’re encouraging your children to move down there and get a job in a mine, since you think it’s so great.
You read propaganda and advise others to do so Jeff Doto? Sad. How about you rot your own brain with lies and leave the rest of us alone? In case you are not up on the effects of feeding your brain what your political stance wants to hear, it is how civilizations are ruined, nations brought to war and people subjugated for someone else’s cause.
Do we want to discuss those who decry Romney’s Mormon role as a Bishop?
http://www.alternet.org/belief/mitt-romneys-role-mormon-bishop-shows-his-extremist-religious-beliefs?page=0%2C0&akid=9438.1089739.9AXJpA&rd=1&src=newsletter714892&t=1
Do we want to discuss Paul Ryan’s “effect” on his district?
http://www.alternet.org/election-2012/take-look-what-paul-ryan-did-his-own-congressional-district-and-be-very-scared-your?akid=9438.1089739.9AXJpA&rd=1&src=newsletter714892&t=3
Do we want to discuss how a “Romney Fundraiser Host Bankrolled Right-Wing Group That Wants To Bomb Iran”?
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/07/09/512729/daniel-loeb-romney-kristol-eci-iran/
Why not? You LIKE propaganda and distorted facts skewed to make someone look bad, you already said so.
Do you have any former friends or people from your past who could tell some lies or embarrassing stories about you? Then don’t get famous!
I am not sure where the usual suspects for this blog are. Maybe they are letting you carry the water for a while. They will be back.
Oh here we go, no one knows “what a job means” except the TP/GOP. Good grief, no wonder America dislikes you people so!
Speaking of Romney junk mail, I am really sick of hearing how “President Obama is responsible for the most rapid increase in the debt under any U.S. President.” No one wants to admit that it was the eight long hard years of Bush and the economic collapse of his house of cards that fueled the crisis and forced so much of the debt increase we have added.
This is how the dishonest right wing argues. They screwed the economy and the middle class for the last 40 years of deliberate legislative activity, buying pols and “adjusting” the tax structure to their advantage and financial shenanigans meant to “make” money and disregard job loss, and it is Obama’s fault the clean up has been expensive? What a load of hooey!
“AlterNet, a project of the non-profit Independent Media Institute, is a progressive/liberal activist news service”
Wow, this is a real news site! (If you want a good laugh)
Warning: For libs only!
Don’t we ship the majority of Virginia coal to China? Serious question. And didn’t McDonnell have an office set up in China, a liaison office or something? If this is the case, then the whole “Energy Independence/Support American Coal” thing is misleading. That would make them supporting the PROFIT of American Coal by selling it to other countries.
@Sandi – Couldn’t agree with you more – Bush spent like a Democrat for EIGHT years. Obama spent like a socialist for FOUR years.
CBS News: (CBS News) The National Debt has now increased more during President Obama’s three years and two months in office than it did during 8 years of the George W. Bush presidency.
The Debt rose $4.899 trillion during the two terms of the Bush presidency. It has now gone up $4.939 trillion since President Obama took office.
The latest posting from the Bureau of Public Debt at the Treasury Department shows the National Debt now stands at $15.566 trillion. It was $10.626 trillion on President Bush’s last day in office, which coincided with President Obama’s first day.
The National Debt also now exceeds 100% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, the total value of goods and services.
Mr. Obama has been quick to blame his predecessor for the soaring Debt, saying Mr. Bush paid for two wars and a Medicare prescription drug program with borrowed funds.
The federal budget sent to Congress last month by Mr. Obama, projects the National Debt will continue to rise as far as the eye can see. The budget shows the Debt hitting $16.3 trillion in 2012, $17.5 trillion in 2013 and $25.9 trillion in 2022. (note from Kathie: No budget has been passed by the Democratically controlled house in three years)
Federal budget records show the National Debt once topped 121% of GDP at the end of World War II. The Debt that year, 1946, was, by today’s standards, a mere $270 billion dollars.
Mr. Obama doesn’t mention the National Debt much, though he does want to be seen trying to reduce the annual budget deficit, though it’s topped a trillion dollars for four years now.
As part of his “Win the Future” program, Mr. Obama called for “taking responsibility for our deficits, by cutting wasteful, excessive spending wherever we find it.”
His latest budget projects a $1.3 trillion deficit this year declining to $901 billion in 2012, and then annual deficits in the range of $500 billion to $700 billion in the 10 years to come.
If Mr. Obama wins re-election, and his budget projections prove accurate, the National Debt will top $20 trillion in 2016, the final year of his second term. That would mean the Debt increased by 87 percent, or $9.34 trillion, during his two terms.
Let’s walk that back one more step:
President Clinton, in 1995 rewrote the Community Reinvestment Act, which along with the federal goverment, put pressure on banks to lend to risky borrowers that created the housing bubble – they knew it would burst in 2008 and Clinton would be long gone. http://articles.businessinsider.com/2009-06-27/wall_street/30009234_1_mortgage-standards-lending-standards-mortgage-rates
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F0afGSpo7Q
@Belle – China is the world’s largest consumer of coal. Why would we not want our American companies to sell their coal if they are being shut down for using it to power plants here?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpTIhyMa-Nw&feature=related
They don’t have the clean air standards that we do (Gallagher said it best, it’s like a no peeing section in the pool).
That was so good, let’s here more of it!
“That will cost money, they will pass that money on to consumers”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0Px4ccLQ-w&feature=related
How can the 23M people out of work afford to buy $7 light bulbs, pay $30 more each time they visit the pump and purchase more efficient appliances?
I like the part about picking winners and losers too, that was a good one! Solyndra and other green initiatives that are making his campaign bundlers rich at the expense of borrowing from our children and grandchildren.
Yes b.o.h.i.c.a, I was afraid that would indeed go right over your right wing head. Let me try again slowly. I was showing Jeff Doto that propaganda is available from both sides and it gets us nowhere, but we can play that game if that is really all you people want. Do you get it now?
It is quite obvious that Kathie has made her choice. Right wing memes and distorted, out of context BS is really showing how “informed” she is. You are welcome to “dominate” this blog.
“They don’t have the clean air standards that we do…”
No, they don’t, and you realize that that’s because of all the nasty socialist job-killing regulation we have here in this country that they don’t have in China. So you’re a fan of clean air, but not the regulation that maintains it?
Sandi Saunders -
“I was afraid that would indeed go right over your right wing head”
Yeah, right. Sure it was. Nice try in covering up your leftwing BS propaganda spin that some lib could read and possibly believe. Oh my, did I say, possibly?
Kathie, you are a nice addition to the blog. Please “dominate”.
Sandi, actually I am getting quite bored with it. Wish there were more folks on here…
@Sandi, meant to ask you. What does BS stand for Barry Soetoro?
Kathie (#11) — I agree, Social Security and Medicare are issues that hit everyone. But these mailings she got were targeted more to an older voter, not a younger one. There’s a way to frame the Republican message on those issues in a way to speak to younger voters, but these mailings didn’t do that. They were better suited for my parents or, um, well, me. So my point is, I’m not sure Romney’s getting his money’s worth out of these mailings.
– Dwayne Yancey