Get a Laugh Out of This Mailer I Got From Republicans Seeking Signatures for Their Electoral College Dirty Tricks!

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Dante Atkins
Nom de Net "hekebolos"

I opened my mailbox this afternoon to find something truly amazing--and something I just knew couldn't have been for a Democratic activist like myself: an envelope from California Counts, the organization funded by Darrell Issa to resurrect the Dirty Tricks Initiative from the dead. It turns out that, yes, the envelope was in fact directed to whatever Republican apparently dared to inhabit my apartment before my girlfriend and I arrived to dispel the traces of the dark side that must have apparently been lingering there.

Regardless, I considered it a stroke of good fortune that this thing fell into my lap--not only because it allows me an opportunity to give some insight into what they're up to, but also because it's downright hilarious--including the picture!

First and foremost, I have to admit that what they're doing is rather sophisticated--the envelope contains a fundraising letter from Darrell Issa, as well as a petition to sign. So it seems organized in that regard, though a little bit on the expensive side--collecting petition signatures through direct mail can't be that easy a process.

The fundraising solicitation is pretty boilerplate, with the usual talking points about how it's not a partisan initiative because Michael Dukakis got 48% of the vote in 1988 but still didn't get any electoral votes, and how candidates have no reason to come to California, etcetera, whereas the new initiative already in use in other states (namely, the powerhouses of Maine and Nebraska) will lead candidates to campaign in every district of California.

Of course, why it will do that is still a mystery, give the fact that most CDs in California are hopelessly gerrymandered and even if you could find one that was still in play, it's a lot easier to stay in the East Coast and campaign in New Hampshire and Maine for 4 votes a piece than to come all the way out here to see if maybe, just maybe, you can peel off one measly EV you might not otherwise have gotten.

But I get ahead of myself. You see, the fundraising letter makes a big deal about how the initiative is non-partisan. And yet for some reason Darrell Issa just has to mention that he helped organize the recall of Gray Davis, and that the "liberal media" wants to convince you that the initiative has a partisan purpose.