Opinion: Snail mail thrives on the campaign trail
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‘Muted Ad Messages in Vogue’ read the headline for a Friday story on the presidential race by the Washington Post’s chief media reporter, Howard Kurtz. But if muted marks the current battle on the airwaves, it doesn’t necessarily apply to a more silent campaign tactic -- mail sent to prospective voters.
The candidates often convey their most pointed messages through these missives, and that certainly is the case with correspondence from Republican Mitt Romney that The Times’ Michael Finnegan ran across during a swing through New Hampshire this week.
The mailings don’t mention Rudy Giuliani, his main rival in the GOP contest, by name, but they clearly are aimed at undermining the former New York mayor.
‘Cities like New York are rolling out the red carpet for illegal immigrants,’ a glossy Romney dispatch declares in a particularly unsubtle swipe. Its front features the Manhattan skyline, with a limousine and red carpet in the foreground.
Inside, next to a photo of the Brooklyn Bridge, the brochure laments ‘protections such as New York instructing its city workers not to provide information to the federal government that would allow them to enforce our immigration laws.’
Several of Romney’s television ads have spotlighted his family life. One of his mailers ...
not only does the same, it underscores his opposition to same-sex marriage.
‘Leading by example,’ the piece says over a wedding photograph of Romney and his bride, Ann (she’s in her white veil).
Inside, it shows a more recent photo of the couple, apparently in the middle of a dance; Ann gazes lovingly at the back of Romney’s neck. ‘Mitt Romney: The experience, vision and values America needs in the fight to defend traditional marriage,’ it says.
Giuliani is using direct mail to shore up his credentials as a foe of illegal immigration.
‘I will end illegal immigration and secure our borders without granting amnesty,’ he says in one brochure circulating in New Hampshire, in which he also pledges to ‘identify every non-citizen in our nation.’ It shows him speaking with a giant American flag as his backdrop.
In another mailer, he touts his mayoral tenure not only as a distinguishing characteristic, but an asset that equips him to confront the immigration issue. ‘One of the key differences between me and all of my opponents is I’ve had the safety and security of 8 million people on my shoulders,’ he says in it. ‘Being continually tested in crisis situations gives me the credibility and experience to control our borders.’
As far as we know, however, the thrice-married Giuliani -- who briefly crashed with a gay couple while his second union was breaking up -- has not focused on matrimonial matters in any of his mailings.
-- Don Frederick