Cost, complexity of campaigns grow.Byline: Diane DIANE Diversified Information and Assistance Network (Tennessee Valley Authority) DIANE Direct Information Access Network for Europe DIANE Digital Integrated Attack and Navigation Equipment Dietz Dietz is a surname, and may refer to:
The $500,000 pumped into local campaigns by the top 20 donors over the last five years is financing an ever-more sophisticated brand of politicking in Lane County. Deep-pocket campaigns hire professional managers and buy skilled political help from local research and public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most firms such as Lindholm Research, Cawood Communications and The Ulum Group. This past fall - months ahead of the the May primary - political operativescommissioned polls - often at $10,000 a pop - to test the relative strengths and weaknesses of potential candidates, said Eugene advertising agency co-owner David Funk. The polls measure name recognition, candidate association with issues, hot button topics and overall electability.Local campaigns are also hiring polling firms to hone the messages they'll use in the elections, testing combinations of words to figure out one or two that most resonate res·o·nate v. res·o·nat·ed, res·o·nat·ing, res·o·nates v.intr. 1. To exhibit or produce resonance or resonant effects. 2. with specific ward or district voters. Attention to message is critical, said Michael Schwartz, a furniture-store owner and sometime campaign manager who most recently ran George Poling's successful race for the Eugene City Council. "You have to have a plan and a plan can have no more than three points to it; the public can't maintain interest in more than three. You've got to cement cement, binding material used in construction and engineering, often called hydraulic cement, typically made by heating a mixture of limestone and clay until it almost fuses and then grinding it to a fine powder. them in the voter's mind. You have to close the deal and you have to make the customer - that voter VOTER. One entitled to a vote; an elector. - say `yes.' ' Once a campaign picks a message, the next step is to get the message out. County commissioner candidates, for example, are increasingly buying drive-time radio ads and television commercials - and running 11th-hour media blitzes. In the last two weeks of her race against incumbent Bobby Green in May 2000, challenger Kitty Piercy "Kitty" Piercy is the current mayor of Eugene, Oregon, sworn in January of 2005. The press dubbed Piercy's election part of a "shift to the left" for the Eugene City Council. bought at least 325 30-second spots during reruns and paid $525, Eugene-Springfield TV station records show. Green bought at least 27 30-second spots during Mariner Mariner Any of a series of unmanned U.S. space probes sent near Venus, Mars, and Mercury. Mariners 2 (1962) and 5 (1967) passed Venus within 22,000 mi (35,000 km) and 2,500 mi (4,000 km), respectively, and made measurements of temperature and atmospheric density. games and "ER," paying $702. Candidates who don't buy radio or television ads don't get off cheaply. They rely on mailings or hand-delivered brochures - which now must be repeated six or seven times to keep the candidate on top of a voter's mind during the extended vote-by-mail balloting period. "Instead of building to a pitch the night of the election, you have to build to a pitch and then maintain it for three weeks," said Jenny Ulum, president of The Ulum Group public relations firm. The cost of the repeated "literature drops" is pushing the cost of campaigns even higher. The minimum for a contested Eugene City Council race is $10,000 - or maybe a little more - and county commissioner races are pushing $100,000, said Liz Cawood, founder of the Cawood Communications public relations firm. Yes, it's expensive, said Mayor Jim Torrey, who spent $75,000 when he was first elected. "Your lawn signs Lawn signs are one of the most visible features of an election campaign in some countries. They are small signs placed on the lawns of a candidate's supporters. Signs are also often placed on lamp posts and larger signs may stand next to busy intersections. cost you $3,000." Even some of the lowest-level races are garnering big bucks, said land use activist and political observer Tom Bowerman. "Can you believe we spend $10,000 or $11,000 on an Eugene Water & Electric Board position?" |
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