Let’s continue to celebrate the New Year while we can. It is 2024, after all, a (FM) as the Farmer’s Almanac likes to remind us, a year that’s one day longer than the rest: a Leap year, an Olympic Year, a…well, yes, in these United States, a big Election Year!
We are not here today, blueberry bagel, to endorse this or that candidate, present or past. We are here to see what postcards have had to say about election years. There are certain principles at work here which may be useful to you, if you to are thinking of running for office, be that office involve residence in the White House or a little office just to the left of the drunk tank in City Hall. (You may have less competition for that one than for the one in Washington, but whatever clicks your lever.)
One of the rules which is obvious from political postcards of the past (and those great big ones you get in your mailbox today) is that you need a picture of yourself with the flag. It needn’t be an obvious flag, as long as it’s there. The colors trigger something in the brain of the recipient.
You may be tempted, if you are running for state office, like this Governor of Indiana, to show your state flag instead of the national flag. Be like Governor Bowen, here, and stick to the red, white, and blue. At least half your constituency has no idea what the state flag looks like anyhow, and the subliminal suggestion will not have one tenth the impact.
Another good shot is you with the capitol building, any capitol building. This is not the same as a flag: anything with a big dome (the building, not you) suggests a building of importance, where important people do important things. Showing yourself in close proximity does the right thing for your image.
Choose how you’d like to do this: the previous picture implied participation, while this one awards a sort of promotion to deity, as you float above the building along with a symbol of the state involved. But this may be what your voters like.
Both of these techniques are easiest and best employed by incumbents, who HAVE an office with flags handy, or can play on a natural association with the government. If you’re on the outside trying to get in, you may prefer something that shows you are qualified for the job by long study and years of work. (Those are law books, by the way: consider long and hard what your voters think of lawyers before trying this out.)
What voters seem to love in all cases, are casual, candid behind the scenes shots of you with your family, no matter how hard you work to MAKE ‘em look candid and casual. Family life shows you have a stable base, a background resembling that of your basic voter, a private circle of friends and advisors (relatives who can attend church socials while you’re somewhere else, offspring who can press buttons to start fountains or light Christmas trees.)
If you can get a warm, sincere shot of a happy family gathering, it impresses people more than a mere official portrait. You want, in these shots, to project an image of a regular member of society, a dun-loving candidate who will be a joy to have around for years to come.
Of course, naysayers may well put out postcards about you as well. Do not worry about these. Every mention of your name or caricature of your face is publicity.
And despite postcard cartoonists, you may have the last laugh. Enjoy your Election Year, and best of luck (for the voters.)
Blogsy Babbles 