Monday, October 24, 2011

A Tale of Two Yard Signs

I drove around Indianapolis quite a bit this past weekend and yard signs are everywhere! I guess the municipal political season is upon us. The areas where I was really able to slow down and observe were Broad Ripple, district 4, a bit of downtown, and the Irvington area.

So I took away two observations from the massive amount of yard signs. Of course, these are unscientific and I didn't drive around the entire council district, but it's interesting to think about.

It's no secret that the race between Councilor Christine Scales (R) and Kostas Poulakidas (D) is going to be competitive in district 4. The district leaned Democrat when Scales won in 2007, and that's even more true now. But Scales has a pretty energetic base, or at least a good yard sign distributor. I saw tons of both candidates' yard signs. Often, I'd see Scales on one side of the street, Poulakidas on the other, and then with the next set of neighbors, it'd switch up. It'll be a close race.

Another observation was something I had to slow down a bit to really notice. Most people only seem to have one or two yard signs. That usually means the party's mayoral candidate and the council district candidate. If it's in an area that isn't competitive for the minority party in that district, you might see a mayoral sign and an At-Large council candidate sign instead of the district candidate. It's pretty rare to see a yard sport something like the mayoral candidate, the district council candidate, and all four At-Large council candidates for an individual party.

But what I started noticing is that, in yards that had three or more yard signs, Mayor Greg Ballard's (R) yard sign was often anchored by a GOP council candidate and Zach Adamson . The catch? Adamson is a Democrat running for an At-Large council seat.

Just some food for thought for your Monday morning.

4 comments:

  1. "Mayor Greg Ballard's (R) yard sign was often anchored by a GOP council candidate and Zach Adamson . The catch? Adamson is a Democrat running for an At-Large council seat."

    That's because Zach Adamson is awesome! Zach is already working closely with Mayor Ballard's office on many neighborhood issues. Zach (unlike most of Congress) understands that you have to work with people on both sides of the aisle to get the best outcome for the people you represent

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  2. You should start a series here: Next edition, take a look at the Cardwell signs on the Southside. Most are in fromt of abandoned businesses, on vacant corner lots, vacant houses, and even one at a City park. Ironic that a sitting Councillor would violate ordinances he votes on.

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  3. There’s an easy answer for that one, Adamson has been campaigning for over 2 years and he’s been more visible around the city at community events and meetings than any other candidate including those in the mayor’s race during this time period.

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  4. I can attest to that, Hoosierdaddy. I think I first met Zach in the summer of 2010 at a council meeting, and I know John Barth has been running just as long.

    He's got a resume with neighborhood organizations, the Democratic party, and LGBT supportive organizations that well...would make for a pretty long resume.

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