The postcard — handwritten in lovely cursive lettering — looks like it came from some favorite great-aunt checking in to see how things are going in Florida.
“Dear Heather,” it begins …
But the personal touch is a conceit. The writer doesn’t know Heather (a Sentinel employee). In fact they’ve never met.
And while the postcard is handwritten, it’s not really a personal note. It’s a political message — one of the more interesting messages you’ll see this election cycle.
Written by a Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan voter in Tennessee, it asks Heather to vote Republican on Election Day.
“As we all know unemployment is at an all-time high, gas is higher than ever, not to mention food, electricity and basic necessities,” it says. “Businesses are closing and many families are truly hurting. Please join me in casting your vote on Nov. 6 for Romney/Ryan.”
In an age of sophisticated microtargeting and million-dollar ad buys, handwritten postcards sent to out-of-state strangers is about as low-tech as it gets.
This one showed up in Central Florida last week, and it’s unknown how many other voters here have received one. It was sent, apparently, by a woman in Chattanooga (a woman named “Donna”) as part of some effort up there to reach voters in swing states. Pulse contacted the sender via Facebook, but she has not yet replied.
GOP consultant Jamie Miller said he’s not heard of this strategy before.
“Getting notes from strangers is new and probably a function of one of the Super Pacs,” he wrote in an email. “In 2000, we implemented what became the 72-hour program and had people from Florida make election night calls into other states after the polls closed here. Every cycle it seems that they take that type of initiative one step further.”
Turns out that Dems — at lease some of them — are trying the same approach.
This link will take you to a Washington Post story about Democrats in Maryland writing thousands of postcards in support of President Barack Obama.
