Where Have All the Lawn Signs Gone? Long Time Passing.

Now I had a posting all ready to go in my mind and in outline. But it’s a little too high brow for my current state of mind so I thought I would just go ahead and make an observation for you: something different is happening this year.

I live in the Richmond, Texas area. My subdivision is a well-known Republican stronghold. This is a true story: I submitted a query to the Texas Voter Activation Network a little while ago to find potential Democratic activists in my precinct that I could contact to enlist them in a Get Out The Vote campaign. I targeted voters who voted in democratic primaries over the last 6 years.

And it returned eight names at 5 addresses. One was the precinct chair and her family, and two were people I already knew.

My precinct voted for Bush/Cheney and Tom DeLay by a wide margin in 2004. This includes my entire subdivision plus surrounding areas. In 2004 the subdivision was littered with Bush/Cheney and DeLay lawn signs.

Littered.

Not politically active at the time, but a Democrat, I knew it was incumbent upon me to do something, so I went and got a Kerry/Edwards sign and put it up. So it was my one Kerry/Edwards lawn sign and 17 Bush/Cheney signs out on my street. Then a bit later, another Kerry sign was planted.

But that was the extent of it.

In 2006, the lawn sign landscape in the subdivision is a bit different. I still can’t believe it, and shake my head as I drive through my subdivision. Here it is less than 30 days to the election. My HOA’s illegal 30-day campaign sign time limitation has been passed. Today, at my count, there are two houses with a Republican lawn sign planted in front. Both of them for the lowest of the lowest downballot candidate – stealth Republican Ken Cannata.

And not another single one for anyone. Except for a Lampson sign I spotted - - - and my own.

No other Republican lawn signs at all.

It speaks volumes to me. It says that there are just a whole lot of 2004 strident Republicans who, in 2006, are unwilling to make a point on their front lawns. Even the rampant “I support the President and his Troops” signs have come down. It’s rather striking. The most common lawn signs in my subdivision advertise “Pool/Spa”

So, as I write this, a "Grand Old" majority of the residents of my subdivision, 2004 strident Republicans, are unwilling, at least, to show overt support for 2006 Republican candidates.

Just like it was “embarrassing” to put out a Democratic lawn sign in 2004 (not me, mind you) Republicans in my precinct are embarrassed by their party, the antics of their elected officials, and the antics of the party leadership. I think that’s why I haven’t seen a sea of Republican lawn signs in my subdivision, as I have become accustomed. Not a sea, not a lake, nor a pond or a puddle.

Just a droplet. For Cannata.

And Ken Cannata, stealth Republican, mark my words, Farhan Shamsi is gonna clean your clock.