Missouri Political Signage

 

by Pa Rock

Road Warrior

I took a three-hundred-and-fifty mile road trip through southern and central Missouri yesterday - Highway 63 from West Plains to Jefferson City and then Highway 50 to California, Missouri - and home again.  It was a long and exhausting day on the road with a very nice break midway to visit with my good friend, Millie, and to see her wonderful farm outside of California.   (Millie has two giant Great Pyrenees dogs and a herd of small goats, all of which terrorized poor Rosie, but she is home now and once again the absolute center of my attention!)

When I am on the road I like to make mental notes of things of interest me, and political signage is something that always catches my attention.  With a little over three weeks left until the general election, political signs, like the autumn foliage, ought to be approaching their zenith.  My first observation from over seven hours on the road yesterday was that I saw absolutely no political bumper stickers.  I guess bumper stickers are becoming passé, and that's just sad.

But there were plenty of yard signs.

Two of the more interesting ones that I noticed were large signs promoting Trump.  One had been cut in half to eliminate Pence's name, and the other still had the complete sign border, but "Pence" had been cut out.   Poor Mike appears to be unloved and unwanted in rural Missouri - and if a Republican can't make it here, can he reasonably hope to make it anywhere?

There were quite a few signs, both large and small, for people running for state representative and state senator, and almost all of those were Republican.  The only congressional signs that I noted were three or four large one's promoting our incumbent Republican congressman, Jason Smith.   Jason has a campaign war chest that runs well into seven figures, and he has thousands of signs, but this year he is facing a no-name challenger who is barely campaigning - and Jason apparently does not feel the need to put his signs through any unnecessary wear and tear.    He's keeping most of them safe in his bunker for when he really does need them.

But it was the US Senate race in Missouri that really had my attention yesterday.  The Democratic candidate is Trudy Busch Valentine, a registered nurse and a scion of the Busch beer family - and the Republican's are running the state's attorney general, Eric Schmitt.   Trudy has been crisscrossing the state in a campaign bus, pressing the flesh, and listening and responding to voters.   She calls her constant campaigning the "Nobody's Senator but Yours" tour.  Schmitt, on the other hand, wants voters to see his rightwing connections.  He had his photo taken with Trump at Mar-a-Lago this week, and brought Ted Cruz to Missouri to generate some media coverage.  Eric doesn't seem to be comfortable attempting to converse with average people.

Trudy and Eric each have large and small yard signs on display.  Trudy's are blue with white lettering and Eric's are red with white lettering.  From a moving vehicle the small signs for both candidates are hard to read, but Trudy has her first name in bolder lettering than the rest of the words on her small signs, and it stands out.  A passing motorist can see one of Trudy's small signs and know who it is promoting.  Eric's small signs, however, are useless on a busy road.

I know there must be studies on this, but white lettering on a blue background is easier to read from a moving vehicle than white lettering on a red background - at least for this observer.

Yesterday I saw fourteen signs for Trudy Busch Valentine along Missouri roadways, and only five for Schmitt.  Most of Trudy's were the large signs, so they were easy to read, and most were in strategic locations such as near intersections where people are more apt to be slowing down and paying attention.  Trudy's sign people did an exceptionally good job between Vienna and Freeburg.  

Four of Eric's signs were small and practically impossible to read.  The one large sign that I saw for Schmitt was in front of the GOP headquarters on the main drag in Rolla, and there were large signs for several other Republican candidates there as well, which increased the visual clutter and made it hard to focus on any particular one.

IMHO, both candidates could have had more effective yard signage by using only two large words - their first name, and beneath that the word "Senate."  It would be seen by the eye and registered by the brain - regardless of how fast the car was going.  

Signs, of course are just a small part of a campaign strategy.   Schmitt won his party's crowded primary election with less than fifty-percent of the vote mainly due to a strong push from the Koch-funded American's for Prosperity which sent out multiple slick campaign materials via the US mail in the days just preceding the election.  Those will start arriving again within the next few days.  Trudy will continue speaking to small and moderately-sized groups and listening to individuals, and Eric will keep reminding people that he loves to lick Trump's golf shoes and that Trudy is the "heiress Valentine."

Substance from one, noise from the other.

And a handful of signs scattered up and down the roadway.

Pay attention Missouri!