Clearly the topic of yard signs is a topic of great passion, as evidenced by the very long thread on the front page. Reading through the thread, I learned a few things.
- People are waiting a long time to get lawn signs and other materials.
- People are divided on the effectiveness of lawn signs in influencing the election.
- The Obama campaign doesn't think that signs win the election, people talking to people win the election.
- People are getting upset and angry at not being able to get lawn signs, and being asked to pay $10 for them.
Well, one thing I remember from Obama's nomination speech - "it's not about me, it's about you." Obama wants us to be involved, his campaign is very grassroots. If there's something we think is important, we should feel empowered to do it.
There were lots of great ideas in that thread - one poster suggested sign painting parties. Others suggested paying for your own locally-made signs. My idea combines these as well as the campaign's main contention that people talk to their neighbors.
Here's my idea:
Give people two signs, for free.
We give them two signs - one for their yard and one for someone else's yard. In exchange for the sign, we get them to talk to a relative, friend or neighbor and give them a sign.
I think the local party could make an event out of it. Come pick up your signs, talk to the local pols, sign up to volunteer, etc.
I'm willing to donate money to a local group to get signs made. I don't think it would take that much money to do this. I plan on talking to my local party to see if they're interested.
So, what do you guys think? I would have posted this in the sign thread, but it was pretty full!