I share an address with my African-American fiancee. Like the vast majority of my neighbors in Westerwood, I am white. For whatever reason, I've received most of the political mailings during this campaign, including pieces from Nancy Vaughan, Robbie Perkins and Zack Matheny.
But it was my fiancee who received a piece from Sandra Anderson Groat yesterday. The smart money says that Groat is targeting black voters with the mailing, especially considering that it recycles material from a half-page ad that ran in The Carolina Peacemaker, a weekly newspaper geared to the African-American community, on Thursday.
The ad and the mail piece carry the slogan "Vote for who you know," and contain testimonials from prominent black pastors, the Revs. George Brooks and Howard Chubbs.
Notably, Brooks and Chubbs are signatories on a slate of endorsements by the Guilford County Community PAC, which did not include Groat. The Simkins PAC also declined to endorse Groat, after supporting her in the last two elections.
Groat's personal appeal reads (sorry, I haven't gotten handy with a scanner yet): "I need your help and your vote to win this election. Even though we are not building houses right now, I am still the same person I have always been. The 25 or so years that I have spent living and working with you were the best. Our bond is strong.
"You know me — and my family, Kristie, Kelly and Nick. You know that I have the best interest in your community in my heart. I will continue to work for you on city council. But you have to send me back.
"Please vote for me and tell your friends. Your vote will make the difference."
I don't think there's anything necessarily nefarious about targeting specific demographics; candidates have limited resources that they must commit strategically to maximize their advantage.
My line is open if any readers want to comment about receiving targeting mailings, robo-calls or other messaging, and also to candidates who are willing to disclose their approaches to reaching voters that they hope will give them the edge to win.
1 comment:
Rumor has it that the endorsements are from Brooks and Chubbs are from her 2007 campaign, NOT this one. I also received one of the postcards over the weekend. I don't need anyone to suggest how I should cast my vote. Its a wonderful thing to have the ability to be educated in the election process (if you can peel away fact from fiction) in order to decide for myself who I'll be voting for. Character means nothing nowadays or so you would think.
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