That is the title of the flyer I received in the mail today. I couldn't believe someone actually took the time to list (by address, so all the candidates are relevant), which candidates I should vote for based on a single issue that isn't even relevant in many of the races. I'm sorry, but a pro-life county commissioner does what for the cause, exactly? Pro-life district judges? To be honest, I could even make the argument that the president has little to say about this. (Bush didn't exactly ban abortion during his tenure, not even with a Republican congress.) But what really got me the most is that they are pushing us to vote yes on a ballot initiative which would make a judge an elected rather than appointed position, which is a very bad idea IMO. (I even have a sign in my yard against that one.) I just don't see what that has to do with pro-life?
I was kind of disgusted, to be honest, not the least of which was because I disagreed with all but one of their recommendations and because I know people will be swayed by that without looking at the bigger picture. It made me wonder how many people are single-issue voters and how will they impact the choices that are made.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
I got a flyer in the mail the other day telling me to vote Republican because the Democrat running for Congress was a tree hugger who thought gas prices were too low.
Talk about not knowing your audience...
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
It's the robocalls that get me. Two one day from the same @#$% candidate. "No, you're not getting my vote; call me again, and I may come over and cut your phone lines."
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
The repuglicans called me the other day begging for money under the guise of taking a survey. I told them they're not getting a dime of my money till they stop bashing queers and return to fiscal conservativism.
At one point I told the guy "You're taking a survey. WRITE THIS DOWN." but ya know, I tell them this stuff every year and they haven't gotten the message.
I've also gotten fliers asking me to vote for prop 8. I wonder if the Klan sent fliers to black people asking them to vote for Jim Crowe laws too.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
I have a friend who is a single issue voter. That issue is gun control. He's adamantly against it.
So, I assumed he'd be voting for McCain. I don't know exactly what the NRA says, endorsement wise, but my friend views McCain as being equally "bad" as Obama on the issue.
Now he's having to weigh a lot of other factors into his voting decision, that he never had to before. I must admit it is entertaining.
Being a one issue voter does seem to make ones decision making processes a bit easier. Although as you said, there are a bunch of elected positions where the single issue, whatever it is, may not be relevant whatsoever.
Posted by kmbboots (Member # 8576) on :
quote:Originally posted by The Pixiest: I wonder if the Klan sent fliers to black people asking them to vote for Jim Crowe laws too.
Like they would have let them vote!
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
quote:Originally posted by Sterling: It's the robocalls that get me. Two one day from the same @#$% candidate. "No, you're not getting my vote; call me again, and I may come over and cut your phone lines."
One of these had the misfortune to call just as we were marking our sample ballots prior to filling out our absentee ballots. KPC got so ticked that even though he didn't vote for her opponent (who is a, well, I'm not gonna say it, family forum and all) he didn't vote for her. He just didn't vote for that office at all.
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
Could be worse. Two years ago I kept getting phone calls (like 4-5 a week) for one of the people running for a senate seat from Missouri. Thing is, I live in Kansas. I did my best to get my friends living in Missouri not to vote for her, explaining that if she didn't know where the state border was, she definitely wouldn't be all that good at representing them. Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
quote:Could be worse. Two years ago I kept getting phone calls (like 4-5 a week) for one of the people running for a senate seat from Missouri. Thing is, I live in Kansas.
It's a 150 years later, but you could FINALLY get satisfaction for Bleeding Kansas!
Posted by Tstorm (Member # 1871) on :
I'm satisfied already, because every time I drive in Missouri, I realize they have the worst roads.
Posted by Irami Osei-Frimpong (Member # 2229) on :
I used to have a problem with single issue voters. Now I have a respect for them, of course, a lot of it depends on what the issue is, but I do believe that good, thoughtful engaged people can be single issue voters. It requires a sense of priorities, which can be an attractive quality.
Posted by Dan_Frank (Member # 8488) on :
quote:Originally posted by The Pixiest: The repuglicans called me the other day begging for money under the guise of taking a survey. I told them they're not getting a dime of my money till they stop bashing queers and return to fiscal conservativism.
Hear hear!
Or is that here here? No, I'm pretty sure I got it right the first time...
My gmail spam filter has been letting me down something fierce when it comes to Obama spam. It normally never lets spam through. But it's been letting through all kinds of Obama spam. When I mark it, I just end up with another one a few days later from a different someguysname@barackobama.com
It's kind of frustrating. Oh, Google, I used to trust your spam filter! Make me believe again!
Posted by maui babe (Member # 1894) on :
No landline, baby!! I'm totally wireless, and haven't received a single robo-call! Woo hoo!
I wish I could say the same for the Obama spam, though.
Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :
A guy wearing a Brewers cap (and his four- or five-year old daughter) rang my doorbell the other day, stumping for the local Democrats, but was more concerned with making sure that I knew where/how to vote. Since I did, we wound up chatting about various things Wisconsin. He later came back and asked if his daughter could use my bathroom, since I was one of the only nice people he'd met that day.
/ derail
Voting straight-party always bugs me, nearly as much as single-issue voting. Mostly it's due to ignorance, because people don't care to look into who'd actually be a good County Clerk of Courts or something. Silly, silly people.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I haven't got ANY Obama spam. I'd really prefer it to what DOES get through my filter (no, Cindy, I do not want to go to your website, and I don't have that part anyway so you may not do things to it.)
Posted by Dan_Frank (Member # 8488) on :
The gmail filters seem awfully good at catching that sort of spam to me. I can't remember the last time I saw any of it... years, at least. But I've gotten Obama spam like clockwork, every couple of days.
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
quote:Originally posted by Carrie: A guy wearing a Brewers cap (and his four- or five-year old daughter) rang my doorbell the other day, stumping for the local Democrats, but was more concerned with making sure that I knew where/how to vote. Since I did, we wound up chatting about various things Wisconsin. He later came back and asked if his daughter could use my bathroom, since I was one of the only nice people he'd met that day.
/ derail
Voting straight-party always bugs me, nearly as much as single-issue voting. Mostly it's due to ignorance, because people don't care to look into who'd actually be a good County Clerk of Courts or something. Silly, silly people.
We had someone come by to push for local democrtas. I asked him, "Which ones?" and he said, "All of them!" I didn't mind, really, although I agree that party-line voting can be problematic too. I think people coming to me in person or calling live (not a robot) to ask for my support are both good things. That's how the democratic process should work -- warm blooded people talking to one another about the candidates and the issues.
Posted by lobo (Member # 1761) on :
I am so glad that I live in a state that is solidly for one side. I hate political advertising...
Posted by theCrowsWife (Member # 8302) on :
Perhaps I'm just lucky, but I live in Ohio and I've been barely touched by political advertising. There have been exactly two phone calls, both from the Obama campaign. I always mute all commercials, so nothing has come through the tv. I use adblocker, so I don't see any internet ads, and I haven't gotten any campaign spam in my inbox (I use gmail). Given adequate defenses, it's actually pretty interesting living in a swing state. My mother lives in a state that is solidly on one side, but she's disgusted by that candidate and wishes her vote against him would actually matter.
--Mel
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
quote:Originally posted by maui babe: No landline, baby!! I'm totally wireless, and haven't received a single robo-call! Woo hoo!
In polling this is called the "cellphone effect."
It's been looked at to a degree but it's hard to nail down. Cell phones in general don't get called by pollsters, only if by accident. This leads to a large underpolling of younger people, since most 18-24 year olds don't have landlines to call. I've seen a few different guesses, but most seem to agree that the cell phone effect could lead to a 1-2 point bump for Obama due to underpolling of people without landlines, who seem to overwhelmingly favor Obama.
I live in Michigan, where being inundated with television ads and mailers is a way of life. But thankfully we don't have a landline, so we haven't gotten any of that robocall/polling crap.
Posted by Darth_Mauve (Member # 4709) on :
I surprised my wife yesterday. I pulled three ads out of our mailbox, and not one of the over-sized pieces of paper were a political advertisement.
That hadn't happened in weeks.
Its a shame when you are happy only to get bills in the mail.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dan_Frank: The gmail filters seem awfully good at catching that sort of spam to me. I can't remember the last time I saw any of it... years, at least. But I've gotten Obama spam like clockwork, every couple of days.
Out of curiosity, do you have any idea how they got your email address?
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
I took myself off the Obama mailing list because I was sick of all the daily emails I was sent. I was fielding a half dozen to a dozen emails a day from them either asking for money or giving mundane campaign announcements. After a couple weeks of voluntary spam, I'd had enough, but it stopped immediately when I took myself off the list.
I can only imagine what it's like this close to election day.
Posted by Dan_Frank (Member # 8488) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mucus:
quote:Originally posted by Dan_Frank: The gmail filters seem awfully good at catching that sort of spam to me. I can't remember the last time I saw any of it... years, at least. But I've gotten Obama spam like clockwork, every couple of days.
Out of curiosity, do you have any idea how they got your email address?
Nope. I have only the one email address, and I use it any time I register anywhere online, so I imagine it got leaked out that way.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
Hmmm, just sort of curious what approach they use because I haven't run into any American political spam. Do you have an email address with an exclusively American ISP or sign up for any obviously American sites?
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
The stuff from the campaigns is targeted. They datamine.
The random crap from everyone else I have no idea about.
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: I took myself off the Obama mailing list because I was sick of all the daily emails I was sent. I was fielding a half dozen to a dozen emails a day from them either asking for money or giving mundane campaign announcements. After a couple weeks of voluntary spam, I'd had enough, but it stopped immediately when I took myself off the list.
I can only imagine what it's like this close to election day.
It's not so bad. I get about one e-mail a day from the campaign, mostly asking for money, but also when Barack Obama was going to be in the area doing a rally -- something I wanted to attend but could not manage. It is good to know that if I ever want it to stop, they'll respect it. Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
One email a day I would have been fine with, even if it was just asking for money. But the Obama to not Obama ratio of mail I was getting was 1:1 when I had 15 emails a day. That's ridiculous.
I was very happy when, after taking my name off their list, the emails stopped immediately, and they apparently never gave my email address out to anyone else as spam hasn't picked up at all since then. I mean I'm still voting for the guy, and I still try to convince others to do the same, but I don't need that much literature on a daily basis. Sending me a weekly newsletter would have been better.
Posted by Dan_Frank (Member # 8488) on :
Where is this list and how can I get off of it? I certainly never signed up for it.
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dan_Frank: Where is this list and how can I get off of it? I certainly never signed up for it.
If you didn't sign up on the Obama home page, then the e-mails you are getting do not come from the official campaign.
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: One email a day I would have been fine with, even if it was just asking for money. But the Obama to not Obama ratio of mail I was getting was 1:1 when I had 15 emails a day. That's ridiculous.
Yeah... I hear ya. The assumption on the part of every politician and charitable cause seems to run something like this, sometimes:
1: Hey, so and so gave us money. 2: Do you know what that means? 1:...That they... Have more money to give us? 2: Exactly! 1: Yee-haw! Let's poke 'em with a stick!
I'm still glad I gave them my money, I'm glad to be a part of things, but I sometimes wish they were a little longer on the "Thanks, it's people like you who have made this campaign possible" and a little shorter on the "How will we ever get through the rough seas of the coming days <nudge nudge>"
Posted by steven (Member # 8099) on :
![[Smile]](smile.gif)