One Utah

It’s the political silly season. With less than a week before the primary election the campaigns have done almost everything they can do with regard to swaying voters - there’s been door to door efforts, TV ads (the ones I’ve seen are pretty good - I’d say a bit above the average soft focus warm and fuzzy makes me wanna vomit political commercial) and the usual round of debates and discussions. At this point, there’s not too much left to do beyond GOTV efforts that involve calling, visiting and reminding people to VOTE ON SEP 11 in the Primary.

Campaigns start doing Honk and Waves. A bunch of people standing on a street corner wearing campaign t-shirts and waving campaign signs and generally making big fools of ourselves. It is, allow me to say, silly, absurdist, and great fun. And I believe worthwhile.

Campaign folks (I’ve been told this by several political professionals) believe that Honk and Waves aren’t productive in terms of producing votes, that they may not in fact serve much to raise voter awareness of candidates and they may not be terribly productive in general, but they serve, in the last days of a campaign, to keep staff and volunteers working and enthused rather than worried and a bit frantic. Specific, time limited events such as honk and waves keep people focused and using their time well. “I have to be done by 5 so I can get to the Honk and Wave.”

Like any action involving real live people doing something, I think Honk and Waves are a good use of time and energy. Seeing actual people doing something has impact. People connect to real people, they see faces they know, they see actual live persons acting for someone. It makes the campaign real and reminds a lot of people it’s time to vote. Richard earlier posted about being a low information voter – informed on a narrow range of issues but generally uninformed on other issues. Such persons are the norm – our lives are busy, we can only keep track of so many things.  Honk and Waves remind people it’s time to vote. And voter participation is a good thing.

The Becker For Mayor campaign is organizing a series of honk and waves this week – look for us in our day-glo yellow t-shirts working a variety of corners. Tonight during rush hour we’re supposed to be at 4th South and 7th East. Drive by, give us a honk and wave (please use all your fingers for the wave!) and don’t forget to vote for Becker on Sept 11 (or before!).

This entry was posted Thursday, September 6th, 2007 at 11:06 am and is filed under Ralph Becker, SLC Politics, Salt Lake City, This Blog. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.