I am more than a week behind on Dee Beaubien’s and Dave McSweeney’s mailings, so I thought I might put them all in one article.
On October 5th Illinois Democrats put out a Put Springfield on a Spending Diet.” Good graphic of the capitol being squeezed at the top.
Dee Beaubien is the beneficiary of this mailing from Illinois Democrats. Good graphics and message.
On the address side is a photo of Beaubien talking to a man who appears to be in a warehouse or a big office supply store.
As will all mailings paid for by Illinois Democrats, Dee Beaubien is touted as an “Independent.” On this budget cutting piece, she says she will “protect taxpayers.”
The millionaire talks about ending taxpayer-funded health care benefits to “to retired politicians and judges who are already receiving general pensions.”
On Saturday, two David McSweeney pieces it mailboxes.
The first was about “hurting families.”
David McSweeney’s piece has a father comforting his daughter on the address side.
On the back is a pitch for
Dave McSweeney’s last week piece about hurting families advances the view that things will be better with a stronger economy, then outlines what he would do to accomplish that goal.
A second post card from McSweeney also arrived on last Saturday.
That is something no candidate wants to happen.
McSweeney’s second piece talks about teaching Springfield that there is no free lunch.
This is one of the first good graphics I have seen in a David McSweeney mailing. It has a plate full of $100 bills.
On the back is the message, “Unfortunately, Dee Beaubien believes you should pick up the tab…”
The theme that people should “Vote No on Dee Beaubien” is continued on the back from other mailings.
On Wednesday another McSweeney mailing was delivered.
It says Beaubien is ready to deliver for the Chicago bosses.
Chicago bosses are supporting Dee Beaubien because they (really just House Speaker and State Democratic Party boss Mike Madigan) expect Dee Beaubien to “deliver.”
The back uses pizza to drive home the “deliver” message.
“Say No on Dee Beaubien” appears on the back of this post card, too.
At the end of the week, Beaubien mailed two different pieces saying that McSweeney would cut money for Veterans.
The first came on Thursday. Paid for by the Democratic Party of Illinois, as usual. The 13th so far, if I understand the coding above the address.
The back of Dee Beaubien’s first Veterans’ piece has her talking with a Life Member of a Veterans organization.
On the back is a list of programs to slash–Education, Senior Services and Veterans–plus what to keep–Waste and Inefficiency and Duplicate Services–according to Beaubien.
Good graphic by the Illinois Democratic Party staff, even though no one in their right right mind would admit to wanting to keep wasteful spending.
The second piece designed to pull Veterans away from McSweeney, as usual, paid for by the Democratic Party, arrived on Friday
While Dave McSweeney is saying, “Vote NO on Dee Beaubien,” this Democratic Party piece says, “David McSweeney is WRONG for us.” A continuation of the theme that McSweeney is not like his constituents.
The back of Madigan’s fourteenth mailing implies that McSweeney will close the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The sign on the door of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs says, “Closed.” Dave McSweeney is blamed.
First and foremost, although I do not live in the 52nd district (I just live west of the Hanson/Sleepy Hollow Road boundary line in Algonquin), the majority of my home town lies within the 52nd district, and I definitely care who represents any portion of the village of Algonquin.
As a conservative Republican, I really want McSweeney to win this race.
I do not want to see another Jack Franks representing any part of Algonquin, and the “independent” campaign the Democrats are bankrolling is incredibly insulting to the voters of the district.
All of that said, if Republican nominee David McSweeney manages to win this race, he is going to owe his victory to Republican “brand loyalty”, because he sure will not win thanks to the mailers I’ve seen to-date for his campaign.
These mailers are all prime examples.
As Cal inferred, you never want both a positive mailer for you and a hit-piece from your campaign on your opponent to hit the mailboxes on the same day, yet that is what happened.
I’m astonished, because several of the McSweeney Campaign operatives I’ve known for years, and I know they know what they are doing.
In particular, I point to Jim Thacker, Jon Zahm and Drew Veeneman.
But along with the timing from last Saturday, the content of the mailers have been pointed out for months, if not a year, and the McSweeney campaign has not taken the genuine, constructive criticisms posted here and said on the streets and improved their product.
Let’s begin with the small type-set the McSweeney campaign still uses in its mailers.
There’s a lot of blank-space on the McSweeney mailers, as well as too much cut & paste graphics, instead of a concise message for voters to easily read.
And then, the McSweeney campaign still insists on using either very dated photo images of their candidate, or air-brushed pictures, which are significantly different then the images published here on McHenry County Blog of what David McSweeney looks like.
Sheesh, the Beaubien campaign via the Democratic Party has published more accurate photos of McSweeney than his own campaign.
Speaking of the Democratic Party mailers, while Cal is accurate they have used better graphics, something I noticed is how the Democrats have adapted to some feedback.
Did anyone else notice the Democratic hit-piece against McSweeney has dropped the “career politician” pejorative, and only used “politician” as a label on McSweeney?
Someone must have given feedback to someone that apart from 1 term as a Palatine Township trustee back in the 90s, McSweeney has held no other elective office, despite his failed bid for Congress in 2006.
The point, the Beaubien campaign, and their Democratic Party allies, have adapted to improve their product.
Over the remaining 23 days of the 2012 campaign, I sincerely hope the McSweeney campaign takes the feedback it’s heard over the past months, too.
They have some great, positive material to send effective mailers over the next 3 weeks, including but not limited to the Daily Herald endorsement McSweeney earned this past week.
Please McSweeney campaign, get your message out effectively and improve the quality and execution for the timing of your mailers in order to win this election, and prevent the rise of the 2nd Jack Franks.