Signs of an election campaign

Lawn signs. They’re the foundation of election campaigns. 

Even if you don’t watch TV or imbibe the Internet, you can’t escape those obtrusive lawn signs. 

Last election we had an extra-large one next door – so big that it required fence posts to hold it up. Every day I was exposed to the mega-sized name of a candidate I didn’t plan to vote for. Although it didn’t change my vote, by election day I'm sure he was my second choice. 

Lawn signs are intended to sway the least interested voter. They’re for the person who comes to the voting booth thinking, “Now whose name looks the most familiar?” 

While lawn signs are the foundation, slogans are the windows into a campaign. Summing up a party’s platform in a few words is an art, revealing a party’s reason for existence. 

“Yes We Can” became a rallying cry for Mr. Obama’s 2008 campaign. “Make American Great Again” was Mr. Trump's unoriginal but powerful retake of past Republican slogans.  

Our Canadian party slogans aren’t quite as grand, but they still hold meaning. They’re also eerily similar to one another. “Choose Forward,” the Liberal slogan, sounds a lot like the Green’s: “Not left. Not right. Forward together.” The Conservatives are also forward-looking: “It’s Time for You to Get Ahead” (emphasis on you) while the NDP keep it simple: “In it For You” (again, emphasis on you).  

I would assume the Conservative you is a little more upper-middle class than the NDP you, but in any case, I’m glad they’ve both made this election about me. The Liberals and Greens are both moving forward, which is also positive. I would hate for a government to move backwards, although it’s entirely possible. 

 Which brings us to Mr. Bernier’s People’s Party... His slogan at least tries something different: “Strong and Free.” If I were completely ignorant of his party’s xenophobic tendencies, I might even like it. 

All these slogans have found their way into ads and pamphlets distributed by each party. When that happens, we start to associate a message with a face – the campaign’s curb appeal, if you will. 

As crass as it sounds, there’s a lot riding on a candidate’s face. It has to be attractive and trustworthy. Don’t grow facial hair (see hard lesson learned by Thomas Mulcair) and don’t wear a hat, as both make it look like you’re trying to hide something. Through no fault of his own, Mr. Singh faces a double-whammy. We have only to look at Quebec’s draconian Bill 21 to see how suspicious the public can be of head coverings. 

Problems with appearance are not insurmountable, but an attractive candidate is still every political party's dream. There's a reason Mr. Trudeau became the golden boy of liberal democracy (pre-SNC-Lavalin affair/pre-blackface saga), his brown flocks of hair adorning every popular magazine in America. And Mr. Scheer’s dimples helped vault him to the top, giving him the boyhood innocence needed to tone down the Harper Conservative brand. 

The leader’s face, in our superficial, digital world, reflects the pride in our country. One can’t over-state its importance in a campaign. Along with the party slogan. And the lawn signs.  

Oh, and the policies... 

But we’ll leave those for another time.