Hear that collective sigh of relief spreading across Pennsylvania? That's because today is Election Day, bringing to an end the Robo-calls, junk mail and TV commercials that have been making people cranky in the last few weeks.
I had four voice-mail messages on Monday from former Gov. Tom Ridge alone, not to mention the half-dozen others. When was the last time you watched TV without enduring commercials for Michael Nutter or some candidate in New Jersey? Or, sorted through the mail without ending up with an armload of glossy candidate endorsements headed for the recycling bin?
So, here's a question for candidates -- why not advertise in a newspaper instead?
You don't hear people say, "If I see one more election ad in the paper ... "
They say, "If I get one more call ..." or "If I see one more commercial ..."
How many of you have voted for an opponent just because you were sick of a candidate's negative TV commercials?
Newspaper ads don't make you get out of your chair to answer the phone six times a night or clog your mailbox or offend your sensibilities with bad acting.
Community newspapers like this one are invited into more than 23,000 homes a day with the potential for 46,000 or more voters seeing an ad. And talk about target marketing -- newspaper readers are far more likely than the average person to be informed voters who want to have a say in how their town and school board are managed.
Some may say, "but a lot of people don't read newspapers anymore." True, but those who don't have time to read or choose not to be informed about their community probably don't have time to go to the polls or make an informed decision either.
A candidate may reach more households by Robo-calling. But is it better to have 10,000 hangups or 500 people who read your message?
Just my thoughts.
But, feel free to share this notion with candidates or campaign managers for the future. Next April when the spring primary rolls around, tell them to call their community newspaper instead of you.