Bob Beauprez’s campaign to be Governor has competence problems. For example, consider a letter, dated August 25, 2006, that recently arrived in my law office colleague Anne McGihon’s mailbox. McGihon is a Democrat who represents House District 3 in Colorado’s General Assembly. Some of her bills were vetoed by Governor Owens last year. She also isn’t married.
She was amused to receive this missive, addressed to “Mrs. Anne Mcgihon,” at her home address. It begins:
Dear Mrs. Mcgihon,
In 2004, Democrats gained control of our state legislature for the first time since JFK was President. Fortunately, Governor Owens has made good use of his veto pen, putting a swift end to liberal legislative proposals. . . . Sincerely, Bob Beauprez
No one expects a mass mailing to be perfectly tailored to a recipient, or screened for a handful of VIPs. But, the folks on the Democratic party side have a database, called VAN, culled from public records, that distinguishes between people who are registered to vote as Republicans, and those who are registered to vote as Democrats, or as unaffiliated voters. It is very cutting edge late 1980s technology called a computerized database and mailing list.
Democrats don’t send highly partisan fund raising letters like this one to members of the opposing party, or even to unaffiliated voters. Democrats also don’t assume that all female voters are married. Bob Beauprez’s campaign apparently hasn’t mastered these little nuts and bolts issues.
Individually, mass mailings like these don’t cost much, about thirty cents each for postage, four items in each mailing, and assembly. But, if two-thirds of a mass mailing doesn’t reach its intended audience (an underestimate in Denver, as was the case here), and many women who receive them are offended by what they receive, a campaign needlessly squanders money and support.
Also, don’t hire Bob Beauprez to read your fortune. Here is what he said on August 25 (emphasis added):
Zogby and the Wall Street Journal recently released some poll numbers proving what I’ve known for a while now – we are gaining real momentum.
Colorado Republicans have united in supporting my candidacy, resulting in a virtual tie between Denver lawyer Bill Ritter and me.
The latest poll in the race, about three weeks after the date on this letter, shows Beauprez behind Ritter by 17 percentage points.
In the Democratic party, we call that “Joementum,” after Joe Lieberman’s 2004 presidential primary polls, which always seemed to go down after he made a campaign appearance. Perhaps, Republicans will soon call the phenomena “Beaumentum.”
A slip inside says “To make sure we keep Colorado’s veto pen in Republican hands, enclosed is my gift of . . . .”, with dollar amounts.
Comments are closed.