Member of the reality-based community of progressive (not anonymous) Massachusetts blogs
It’s only August and I’m tired of the City Council election. It’s my own damn fault. I keep my nose in it. I don’t know where the Red Sox are in the standings. I’m sure Tom Brady is still our QB. Heard Milan Lucic brought The Cup back home to Vancouver. The only thing I know about TV and movies comes, pretty much, from my kids. I’m lame.
And I’m bored.
See, all the drama that puts this city into fits, turns into nothing more than local machinations. Very predictable, for the most part. One thing that offers a hint a pizazz is how campaigns approach new media outreach. This is a thing that speaks to the future. It is untried, discoverable. Aka, not boring.
What is boring is the parade of fluff glomming up my FB feed. Like yard signs, facebook don’t vote. For every 10 status updates a candidate puts up cheerleading themselves, I’d like to see one Lowellian post something positive, unsolicited. I put more credence into a coffee shop anecdote about, “I ran into ‘X’ dropping lit in my neighborhood,” than I do a FB update telling me about it. Managing expectations, via FB, is not the way to go folks. Especially, if the candidate is the source of the posts.
Now let’s talk about YouTube. Here is a venue where creativity and imagination can shine. Short clips are effectively digital “lit drops.” These things can fly by e-mail, splash on FB and dwell on the local blog(s). A well crafted YouTube video can tell you a lot about a candidate. By “well crafted,” I don’t mean pro or high production. I mean smart, savvy, homespun brilliance. The type of thing that conveys the aptitude and expression of a campaign with it’s finger on the pulse of this vibrant city.
It’s mid-August. Murphy is out front in this arena. Who else can hang?
Can you hear the buzz? “Why do we need a preliminary JUST to eliminate one person?” “The City Council should try to save the $50,000*. We could hire another librarian for that.”
The boo birds are chirping away! So, who is afraid of a preliminary? Why?
Here are some sketchy points:
- Candidates that decided not to bother campaigning until after Labor Day could get caught woefully short. Incumbents, at least, can use the Council meetings to promote themselves. Or “demote,” as the case may be. So, lazy challengers or those that think that they have 5000 voters in their back pocket and that they own Belvidere will know FOR SURE how popular they truly are. Hint, Hint: Everybody loves you to your face.
- Candidates that have run for another office will know where they stand, when considered for City Council. Not all seats are created equal.
- A glance over the last couple of preliminaries suggest if you don’t place 13th or better, you’re done. However, honestly, it will depend on the spread. If 8 thru 15 are tighly grouped, votes wise, then the general is up for grabs. Except, for maybe the 16th-18th? But, I’ll propose, that if there is a decent gap in voter preference somewhere in the placement, the candidates on the wrong side of the gap will not see the inside of the swing gate in 2012.
-Caulfield is out and the 2009 bottom three finishers are vunerable. Though an incumbent could tank in the preliminary and then claw back a “W” in the general. Assuming they weren’t demoralized and could rally some troops to help them. It’s harder for long term incumbents to wage a ground game. Their family is tired of campaigns and their friends/supporters rather write a check for $100.
- Expect: 1st-6th place finishers to claim they “are solid,” 7th-11th place finisher to claim “with a little more work in the neighborhoods I was weak in, I’ll be solid,” 12th-15th place to blurt “Don’t count me out,” and 16th-18th to yell “This is Lowell, anything can happen!”
- Expect to see mailers. Doubt anyone will go negative.
- WCAP is going to see some dough coming in, I’ll bet.
- Expect campaign signage to filter into store fronts, starting now. Since the last day to withdraw is August 25th, expect yards to bloom signage Saturday the 27th.
Speaking of August 25th, will one of the candidates play “hero” and withdraw? That could set them up nicely for a 2013 bid? Though, who likes a quitter? Really? And is there an effort under way to find a soft spot in the line up? Who would have the balls to suggest to a candidate that they withdraw?
I want a preliminary. That way, come Sept. 28th, we’ll know who is “all hat and no cattle.”
* Expect the cost estimate for a preliminary to fluctuate wildly, depending on who is doing the talking. I used 50K because it’s a middle of the road guess.
Here’s the audio of my interview yesterday with Stephanie Higgins, the director of the documentary The Gay Marriage Thing, being screened next week at the Church Christ United on East Merrimack St on Wednesday, April 17th, 7pm.
I apologize, the beginning and the end of the interview were not recorded, but the interview starts with Stephanie answering my question, who is the audience she wants to reach with her film?
Tomorrow on TOL, we’ll be talking to Stephanie Higgins, the creator of the to-be-screened film The Gay Marriage Thing. The Gay Marriage Thing will be shown, courtesy of the Lowell Film Collaborative and the Christ Church United in Lowell, at the UCC at 180 E. Merrimack Street, on Wednesday, April 15 at 7pm, and Stephanie will be in attendance along with the film’s Executive Producer, Lorre Fritchy.
About the film:
From the protests outside the Massachusetts State House, to the churches of the Reverends Rich Wiesenbach and Carlton Smith, to the historic chambers echoing State Representative Kathi-Anne Reinstein’s perspective, THE GAY MARRIAGE THING captures how all of these voices swirl in the air around Gayle and Lorre as they approach May 17, 2004, the first date same-sex couples could file for marriage licenses in Massachusetts. While eavesdropping on the emotional and spiritual toll this issue has taken upon all parties, the story carries forth to the everyday angst and anticipation of Lorre and Gayle’s own wedding.
It promises to be a great interview so please join us, tomorrow at 10am on 91.5FM WUML-Lowell, or webcast it live. You can watch the trailer here:
For this event, the suggested donation is $5, and RSVPs are appreciated. Send an email to lowellfilmcollaborative@live.com
In case you missed my interview on WUML this morning with Bob Forrant about his new book, you can listen or download it here. Thanks to Bob for coming in and giving an interesting overview of the economic history of the rise and fall of industrialization in the Connecticut River Valley!
Sorry if the audio is an issue at any point, I did my best to fix the levels.
Thinking Out Loud - 3/27/09 Interview with Bob Forrant [13:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download[Bumped - tune in this morning at 10am!]
This Friday on Thinking Out Loud we’ll be interviewing UML professor Bob Forrant on his new book, Metal Fatigue: American Bosch and the Demise of Metalworking in the Connecticut River Valley. It’s a look into the loss of many good metalworking jobs in that region, and how that still affects the economies of the area to this very day, including the still-hard-hit Springfield, MA. We’ll be talking about the issues his book raises, and how they are relevant to our current economic situation.
Tune in at 10am this Friday to WUML, 91.5FM, or you can stream it live.
Tomorrow we’ll be talking to Suzzanne Cromwell, organizer of the Lowell Film Festival, which is now in its second year. (Lowellfilms.org). Tune in on WUML 91.5FM, or listen live online at WUML’s website.
Here’s today’s podcast of my interview this morning with Glenn Ruga, who has founded a new website, socialdocumentary.net. The site is a place for documentary photographers from all around the world to create series of exhibits, allowing them to tell the stories of their subjects.
(Just full disclosure, Glenn is a business colleague of mine and a fellow web designer with whom I work.)
And check out the site, there’s some really amazing photos there!
Here’s today’s interview with Paul Marion. We talked about Monday’s F. Bradford Morse Distinguished Lecture (open to the public, being held at 7 p.m. at the F. Bradford Morse Federal Building on Merrimack Street).
Thinking Out Loud - 11/7/08 Interview with Paul Marion [13:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadToday on TOL, we’ll be talking to Paul Marion, Executive Director for Outreach at UMass Lowell, about this year’s F. Bradford Morse Distinguished Lecture taking place on Monday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. at the F. Bradford Morse Federal Building on Merrimack Street. The guest lecturer this year is Prof. Padraig O’Malley of UMass Boston, who will talk about his efforts on reconciliation in Iraq and his history working for peace.
The event is open to the public, and is free.
Join us at 10am, either at 91.5FM or streaming online live.
[powered by WordPress.]
58 queries. 0.619 seconds