If they polled people on the popularity of political ads prepared by paid pitchmen, would the results be positive?
Probably not.
They are too negative, too misleading and, for the most part, too many.
But I’m perturbed over something else: Virtually no office-seeker is willing to publicize which political party he or she is representing. And it is not just those running for federal or state office. Local candidates are employing the same strategy.
My postal box has been jammed with pleas from people seeking seats in the state legislature, and I have no idea if they are Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians or Vegetarians.
And if you try to become enlightened by going to the candidates’ official websites, chances are you’ll draw a blank.
Your favorite columnist recently perused 70 official Web pages of candidates running in Adams, Arapahoe and Jefferson counties. Only seven put in big type that they are Democrats or members of the GOP.
Fifty-one (count ’em) made no mention of party. And a dozen made some kind of reference — usually vague — somewhere in the small print of their biographies.
I doff my derby to those who are willing to come out of the “closet”: House Democratic candidates Vicki Snider and Jessie Danielson, and House Republicans Richard Bowman and Jack Tate; and Republican County Commissioner Nancy Sharp in Arapahoe and commission candidate Joe Domenico, also a Republican, in Adams. U.S. Senate hopeful Cory Gardner now advertises himself as a “new Republican,” at least in one TV ad, but not on his website.
Not too long ago, every candidate would boast of their party. If their newspaper ads didn’t say Republican or Democrat, there would at least be a caricature of an elephant or a donkey.
So what gives?
Dwayne Stephens, the chairman of the Democratic Party in Jefferson County, points out that the county is divided almost equally between Democrats, Republicans and registered independents. And, he says, it is the independents who the candidates are trying to lure.
Joy Hoffman, who heads up the Republicans in Arapahoe County, agrees. “No one wants to be identified by party affiliation,” she says. “It’s a trifle silly, but it works better not to be.” She claims the political strategists want the candidates to be “looked at as people.”
Just as I thought: It’s not the candidates themselves doing it but the strategists.
How long has this been going on? According to Hoffman, the no-tell strategy was first employed by the Democrats in 2006. Both parties boasted of affiliations in the presidential election year of 2008 but both dropped labels in 2010 and have generally shied away from them ever since.
Looking at candidates “as people” is fine, but isn’t there a high degree of importance in knowing their political philosophy?
Congressmen almost always vote with party leadership, lest they be branded a “maverick.” There is more partisan flexibility in the state legislature, but “party lines” are followed more often than not.
A legislative candidate in my district says in her campaign flier that she has a “big heart.” But is she generous when it comes to spending her money, or tax money?
As my old high school cheerleaders might urge, “Gimme an R … gimme a D!”
Dick Hilker (dhilker529@aol. com) of Arvada is a retired suburban newspaper editor and columnist. He writes twice a month for The Denver Post.
