At The Bivings Report this weekend, Todd Zeigler rendered a pretty devastating assessment of newly-minted presdiential candidate Sam Brownback’s online fundraising pitch: The e-mail came from an e-marketing firm (whose website, incidentally, should be profiled by Web Pages That Suck) and Brownback.com itself is currently hosted on the domain of a web design company. The actual Brownback website looks professional enough, but that’s the nicest thing that can be said.
Zeigler’s unflinching verdict:
When you combine all these problems together, you end up with an email/web program that seems more like a Paypal scam than official campaign correspondence.
And I concur. I’ve been rebuked before for criticizing political sites that weren’t ready for primetime, but we’re talking the launch of a U.S. senator’s presidential campaign here.
Relatedly: Leaving work today, as I descended the Rosslyn Metro station’s Everest-esque escalator, coming up the opposite escalator was a small army of intermediate school students in blue ski caps, toting matching “Brownback for President” signs. It reminded me more than a little of Howard Dean’s not-so-perfect Perfect Stormers in Iowa circa January 2004.
I had to wonder: Where were they going? I sure hope it was Ruby Tuesday’s, because the Rosslyn neighborhood of Virginia is strictly a business district. If it was a rally for the benefit of WJLA-TV’s cameras, it sure isn’t reflected on their website.
And I almost feel like I’m piling on unfairly by mentioning that Brownback’s announcement was buried on Page A08 of Sunday’s Post. But not quite.
As Not Paul Begala noted this weekend, the first day of your campaign is supposed to be your best. Since Brownback’s campaign already faces steep odds, he’d better be hoping this aphorism is wrong, too.
Other interesting thing here is the content of the message itself. Lots of red meat for social conservatives. Here’s the first few sentences:
“Dear Fellow Conservative,
I’ve sent YOU this urgent email message because I was told that just like me you are a pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, God-fearing American.
Is that correct?
If it’s NOT then you might as well just go ahead and delete this message now.”