Why Good People Don't Run--Updated

I was having coffee with a friend one morning and he said he had to leave early to help set up for a friend's wedding.  My buddy is 6' 3'' and about 215, so I figured he was going to set up tables and chairs.  I asked what he was doing and he looked sheepishly at his shoes and said.  "I"m writing the little name cards that go on the dinner plates."  He quickly explained that he had taken a calligraphy class in high school and it had become a hobby.  He had also addressed the envelopes for the wedding invitations. 

I discreetly scooted my chair back a little bit. 

I was reminded of that story last Friday when I opened my mail box and it was filled with political mail that had been timed to arrive with the early ballots.  The pieces were all full color, on glossy card stock with pretty pictures, large font and simple words.  They were classic name recognition pieces.  Most of them were well done; all of them were expensive and none of them took more than 10 seconds to read. 

Then I saw the letter from Joyce Schweikert.  It was hand addressed, had a first class stamp and a return address sticker...complete with the little pink ribbon that Joyce began using after she learned that her cancer was in remission.  Inside was a real picture--not a printed postcard that was meant to look like a picture.  Also inside was a real letter...not a series of bullets in 16 point font.

It was a bold move, but I frankly wasn't sure if it was a good move.  It's hard to compete with the noise of the flashy mail pieces and it obviously took months to hand address, stamp, stuff and mail the letter--the flashy pieces just get emailed to a full service mail house, printed by the truckload and shipped to the post office. 

Would the electorate be sophisticated enough to appreciate the thought, effort and expense that went into the letter, or would it just be wasted on the masses? 

I found my answer in this morning's Republic.  Here's a "quick hit" by an editorial writer named Robert Leger.

The mail Saturday brought a pleasant letter from Joyce Schweikert, telling about the joys of being the wife of a congressional candidate. She included a nice photo of the happy couple. She is left-handed, I could tell from the way she'd printed my address. But when she wrote to my parents, she switched to cursive and her right hand. The script was smaller and neater on the envelope a co-worker received. It made me wish I was ambidextrous, too.

What an idiot.  Did his wife hand address all of her wedding invitations, or did she do it with a group of friends?  Maybe they have a 6' 3'' friend who knows calligraphy and did them all.  Does that make it less important?  Did Robert Leger really look at a glossy stack of political junk mail and then complain that the hand written letter from Joyce was addressed by one of her friends?  Was he able to avoid drooling on the shinny mail when he tried to read the little words?

People ask me why the glee.  Why do I seem so happy that the newspaper model is dying?  Why do I cover every layoff, buyout and stock dip?  Guys like Robert Leger are why.  Men who have never been in the arena.  Men who don't know anything about campaigns, but sit in their air conditioned cubicle and make fun of a candidate's wife. 

Schweikert left a high paying job, spent $250,000 of his own money and has worked a year on this race.  But he's not alone.  Jim Obsbury did the same thing.  Susan Bitter-Smith, Mark Anderson and Laura Knaperek have sacrificed on the same scale. 

Most of them are going to lose.  They may all lose...but they will have tried.  Five years from now, they will all have successful careers.  That's because they are talented and willing to take risks. 

Five years from now Robert Leger will be lucky to be spokesman for the State Board of Pharmacy.

By the way, Gannett stock closed at $18.52 today...down 52% year to date.  My day is looking brighter.

UPDATE:  Joyce Schweikert emailed me to say that the envelopes were addressed by her friends from her cancer survivor's support group. 

Comments

[SonoranSam]

He may not know the ins and outs of campaigning as well as a former legislator turned blogger - but he probably knows how to spell "cubicle."

Yes I know, my posts are full of typos.

But if you're gonna leap onto every journalistic lapse....

[MSMark]

Robert Leger is regarded as one of the dimmest bulbs on the Republic's editorial staff and often relies on personal attacks, rather than substantive argument, to persuade readers. And as subscriptions and stock price indicates, few are.

[Michel]

He called out a politico; isn't that what you're supposed to do?
Granted, it was a small callout, but I've read longer critiques of smaller mis-steps.

[Alex]

Sam, your untiring defense of the left is sad. Taking a cheap shot at a candidate's wife isn't a "lapse" and your inability to discern the moral difference is what makes you the liberal that you are.

[Jack]

Ridiculous coverage. If the Republic or any other paper had extensively and exhaustively covered the professional credentials, opinions, and potential capacity of these candidates to do the job they seek, then they can relax and talk about their choice of postage stamps, low VOC ink on addresses, or the fiber content of the paper. But they just don't want to work very hard. Why don't the papers hire people who actually have an interest in the topic they are asked to cover.

[Special Agent Johnny Utah]

Are we to respect all politicians merely for being "in the arena"? What about those who LOVE the arena, and wouldn't know what to do with themselves if there were no arena? What about those who enjoy perks within the arena that are unavailable to them outside the arena?

All I'm saying is, let's not forget or denigrate the citizen-legislator ideal; let's respect those who are willing to pick up the plow again after doing important public work, rather than always looking for some new office to which to seek election.

[nick]

soon all the nuts at the Repugnant will
be unemployed!

[Elizabeth]

How was that insulting?

[Sam]

It's nice to see with Leger's wannabe handwriting analysis he might have a potential job opportunity when the Republic euthanizes his position.

[Joe G.]

Re: the update,

Yet again someone in the media makes a petty charge and a blogger clarifies what actually happened.

No wonder the media has become as trustworthy as used car salesmen.

[Give me a break]

What about all the gushy hit pieces that Joyce and David sent out about Susan?

David is a weak candidate. You need to stop plugging him so much. I used to love to read your sight, but your David bias has ruined your blog.

[Roger Maris]

Hit pieces? Can you really call them hit pieces when they show the facts... It wasn't personal like the Pierce piece... They mearly pointed out the fact that Susan is not a Reagan Republican, she's a RINO.

The only hit piece here is Bitter-Smith tarishing the Reagan legacy.

[Give me a break]

Roger- I agree that Susan is a RINO, but so is David Schweikert. AFL-CIO endorsed him 2 times and I don't care if it was 14 years ago, because all he is running on is his 4 years in office years ago.
Anyway, the point of the my reply was to mention that his campaign is politics as usual. He hasn't done anything good for the State. Unless you are a BK attorney that filed for the 3 districts he let go BK.