2014's Most outrageous campaign mailers

by Patrick Gannon, The Insider, October 20, 2014.

Deep inside the bowels of North Carolina politics, a contest is under way (Not really, but play along for fun).

The competition aims to find the political ad designer who contrives the most outrageous, over-the-top mailer to capture voters' attention this election season. You see, most mailers have a lifespan of minutes, perhaps seconds – the time it takes them to go from the mailbox to the recycle bin.

Unlike in many state House and Senate districts, qualified candidates are vying for this honor. In addition to bragging rights, the winner also receives a copy of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Photoshop" and a growler of truth serum (two much-needed provisions for some political ad-makers).

Two weeks before the elections, internal and extremely unscientific polls (like most internal polls) show two mailers tied for most outrageous. Another is a close third.

The first finalist comes from Democrat Margie Storch, who is challenging Republican Rep. Rob Bryan in a Charlotte-area House district. It features a small cartoon drawing of a man, who kind of resembles Bryan, sitting atop a much larger drawing of female reproductive organs.

The cartoon character says, "Government should be small and unobtrusive … so women don't notice it in their uteruses." Aside from a possible double meaning (you figure it out), the ad refers to new laws passed or considered by the Republican-led General Assembly that critics say infringe on the rights of women to make decisions about their own reproductive health care, as well as legislation that places new restrictions on abortion providers.

That ad, by the way, was sent to me by a Republican politico with the subject line, "I may have now seen it all."

The second front-runner, paid for by the N.C. Democratic Party, is a mailer opposing Republican Rep. Mike Stone of Lee County, who is in a close race against Democrat Brad Salmon. On one side is a man wearing fishing attire, holding a fish with a large chunk of its body missing (presumably eaten away by toxic coal ash). On the other side is a picture of a young girl (clearly Photoshopped) wearing a gas mask, holding a baby doll and standing in a pond next to a sewer pipe with brown water (presumably filled with coal ash) gushing from it.

The ad suggests that Stone and the Republican-led General Assembly aren't going far enough to force Duke Energy to clean up its coal ash ponds – and require the company, rather than electricity users, to foot the bill for it. "No words can describe what 39,000 tons of toxic coal ash may do to us," the ad states, "but there are words to describe how Mike Stone wants us to pay for the cleanup."

Coming in a close third is a mailer sponsored by the N.C. Republican Party opposing Democratic Rep. Rick Glazier, who faces Republican Richard Button in a Fayetteville House district. The ad features an image of a dead man's feet (not real dead feet, I hope). Hanging off of the big right toe is a tag with the words, "I voted today."

The other side of the mailer references a report by State Board of Elections that raised questions about whether people used voter registrations of dead people to cast ballots in 2012. The report hasn't been substantiated.

Glazier, the mailer points out, voted against legislation requiring photo IDs to vote beginning in 2016, which, Republicans say, will put the kibosh on voter fraud.

And there, voters, are three examples of what campaigns and elections have become in North Carolina. Now we just need a poll to determine whether these mailers and others like them inspire voters to go to the polls or convince them to stay home.

My bet is the latter.