A friend who recently became an American citizen voted for the first time today, in a primary election that hardly anyone else showed up for. The low turnout, along with his being one of DC's handful of registered Republicans (29,622, according to the Washington Post), gave his vote real weight in the Carol Schwartz vs Patrick Mara race for City Council.
In spite of the enormous number of posters that Carol Schwartz (the incumbent, who's been active in DC politics since 1974) blanketed our neighborhood with, he voted for Mara because of one single postcard he got in the mail. It announced Mara's unsurprising support for the McCain/Palin ticket and arrived two days after news broke on McCain's VP pick.
That Patrick Mara, he gets things done, my friend said. Think about the planning, the effort, that must have gone into delivering such a timely message. It shows preparedness. Commitment. All that good stuff. (Mara's bio does say he's an Eagle Scout!)
It's so interesting, how converts are won by ad campaigns. It's not all about reach, frequency, bright colors, attention getting taglines, etc. Sometimes timing is all that matters.
