Is It a Democrat or a Republican?

[furball4paws]

When I was young and growing up in Detroit, political signs were obvious. Sometimes the "Democrat" was larger than the pol's name. Now you need a magnifying glass to discover most politician's party affiliation, if it is there at all. Why are the politicians afraid to advertise their party? I know obfuscation is job 1 for most of them, but it would seem that they would have some pride in their party. Anybody have any ideas?

[frog_jerk_2004]

This happens in my district all of the time (Republican district). The Republican candidates proudly display the red, white and blue, elephant and/or it states Republican. The devilcrats use nonstandard colors like yellow, black, or some other color than the usual blue and they do not tell you that they are devilcrats. They are trying to pretend they are independents so that they will take advantage of as many voting mistakes as possible.

[tellw]

People don't vote straight ticket as much as they used to, so I can see why pols don't put their party ID on signs unless it's for a primary election.

[cousair]

Certainly we all know why. I have noticed that in my town ever since the GOP won over the House in the early 1990's. After this election, any DNC lib better not only hide his party affiliation, he better hide his face. The mud , slander, lies outright fraud and the crimes go on and on, that the DNC and the elitist Kerry Kool Aid Drinkers have thrown,will be remembered on election day and beyond. I believe they will try the same thing they did before, to eliminate the militarty votes and target certain close states with voter fraud. I worked the polls in 2000 and saw it happen. THe problem is in a DNC state, when they control the politics, you can't win because noone will hear you. Kennedy's performance yesterday was about as outrageous as I have ever seen.

[Paine in the Neck]

This is a pet peeve of mine - politicians who stand for so little that they won't even tell you their party affiliation. I had a candidate for Congress come in the store doing a walkaround meet-and-greet. He hands me a flyer and starts into his I'm so-and-so running for Congress. While he's talking I'm looking over the flyer for his party; there's none. So I'm waiting to see how long he goes before letting the cat out of the bag. He eventually ran out of wind but still hadn't told me.

I asked. He was Republican, an earnest young guy. I chewed his ass about not being proud of his party affiliation.

[furball4paws]

I live in Colorado now. There are many signs for both local, state and national office. I have examined them all closely and except for one local pol not one of them has a party affiliation on the sign, even in the very fine print. Coors or Salazar? The signs say nothing about what they stand for, you got to go to the local rag to discover their positions and parties, and the local rag is very left of center.

[palmer]

In VA, the opponent to Wolf (R) sent a brochure without party affiliation. He has no chance but I think he is just trying to avoid drowning in the Kerry-Kennedy Oldsmobile.

[JOAT]

In the last couple of elections they have not listed party affiliation of the BALLOT where I live. Guess that means you actually have to have some inkling of who you are voting for.

[NJ_gent]

"Guess that means you actually have to have some inkling of who you are voting for."

A change that's way overdue, in my opinion. If the only thing you know about someone is that they have an 'R' or a 'D' next to their name, then you probably shouldn't be voting to elect them to a position of power. A free Republic assumes and requires an informed voting pool to function properly.

[furball4paws]

This is all fine and dandy. I don't want party affiliations on my ballots. But what good does a "Smith for Congress" sign do without saying something about Smith? The only thing I can see is that the yard the sign is in will have some peer pressure impact. That won't work for me, but it might for someone else. I think the earlier poster might be right - they want to appeal to those voters who are ignorant and lazy and might be turned off by the elephant or the ass.

[NJ_gent]

"I think the earlier poster might be right - they want to appeal to those voters who are ignorant and lazy and might be turned off by the elephant or the ass."

In Maryland, it used to be (might still be, I don't know) that you could pull a single lever on election day to vote for every candidate of one party or the other at the same time. Talk about lazy. I'd rather make the party-line voters at least do enough work to figure out which party each candidate is in. If they can't even do that much work, then they probably shouldn't be voting for anyone.

[Moosilauke]

In Mass. none of the signs carry party identification. Don't know if that's by choice or by law. A pretty sure-fire way of decrypting the messages is to look at the house/yard. If there is an American flag displayed, then you can bet on the sign being a Republican candidate. Also red/white/blue signs tend to be republican, tho I have seen exceptions to that.

[Morgan in Denver]

Yard signs are for name recognition. That's the main reason political party is rarely mentioned. It also depends on the area. In Denver, we are so heavily Democrat that Republicans avoid making the distinction, hoping people will ignore party affiliation. Same thing in heavily Republican areas. Democrats want to avoid the association in attempting to connect to people using issues and not political party.

In Colorado, another reason is the efforts to limit party influence. McCain/Feingold nationally and our Amendment 27 locally have taken much of the accountability and responsibility out of the relationship between party and candidate. In states without a strong political party influence, there is less reason for a candidate to limit potential voters by claiming either party. This is especially true where candidates can simply pay a fee or use paid petitioners to get on the ballot.

Bottom line? It's the unintended consequences of well meaning people trying to create a better election system.