The Observation Deck

This happens before every election. Political campaign signs appear on highway berms, bridge abutments, and telephone poles. These are pieces of public infrastructure; advertising in these places is widely held as an illegal practice. I’ve now started seeing signs pop up on empty foreclosure homes. Trespassing? Great…

I have a number of problems with this behavior:

1.) Illegally spraying the landscape with advertisements seems to me closer to graffiti than anything else. I want to see responsible adults in office, not juvenile delinquents.

2.) I would expect these people should be familiar with law, after all these people are asking us to vote for them to create, interpret and uphold law. Why would I trust these individuals if they have such a disregard for existing law?

3.) While I’ve heard that a criminal always returns to the scene of the crime, they don’t seem to come back to pick up the mess after the election. The signs blow around, detracting from the general appeal of the landscape. The wire frame that most of these signs also usually ends up in inconvenient places, like knocking out spokes in my bicycle tire.

Does this bother other people too (or am I just nuts)?

Mark,

It definitely bothers me and with each election period the practice seems to be getting worse.

The other technique I have noticed (and clearly legal) is the one where a homeowner puts two signs up...one on each of his/her property lines...attempting to give off the impression that two homes are actually for the same candidate. Hilarious.

In the city that I used to live, a lot of people would combat this by going around and slapping a fairly large sticker on these signs that said"I AM UGLY LITTER."

I thought that was a good way to combat this, or fine those abusing it by sticking stuff everywhere.

What I have found interesting is the number of homes with both Hillary and Obama signs up. A little division in those homes?

We've been keeping track for the past three weeks, so far the totals are...

Clinton campaign calls : 5
McCain campaign calls : 3
Ron Paul campaign calls : 1
Obama campaign calls : 0

the mailers have been too numerous to count (at least two or three each day)

I even got two different calls asking if I needed a ride to my polling location. I should have said yes, just to see what they would have done when they found out that it is litterally across the street.

So much for the "do not call list". I know that it doesn't apply for non-profit organizations, but honestly, my phone rings more now than when I signed up.

Can't wait for the election to be over.

Bret - Do not call doesn't include politics or non-profits.

And I don't know why the candidates aren't showing you any love. We get three a day from everyone.

Even Cindy McCain!

While we often have yard signs, I think they belong in the yards of occupied homes or in the windows of occupied storefronts.