Mailers keep on spinning

S.J. CAHN

A reader dumped a pile of political mailers in my lap on Wednesday, a

collection he says is unrivaled in the more than 30 years he’s been

in Newport Beach.

Quite a pile it is, about 30 mailers deep. And aside from a few

for a proposition or U.S. Senate candidate, they are all for the

state Assembly and Senate.

The horde represents one of the most interesting developments in

political campaigning: the well-researched, narrowly targeted direct

mail approach. This allows different messages in, for instance, the

70th Assembly race to go to different parts of the district, such as

Irvine versus Newport Beach. And it allows candidates who are strong

in one area to run more heavily to a specific part of the electorate

or, even more advanced, to run one message to one group of voters,

another to a different group. As research gets increasingly

sophisticated, expect direct mail campaigns to develop concurrently.

The latest piece of literature, which arrived in Tuesday’s heavy

post-holiday mail, was from the California Republican Assembly, a

conservative branch of the party. It takes on what has been the most

dramatic controversy of the 70th Assembly race: the mailer by Cristi

Cristich that suggested she had the backing of Rep. Chris Cox.

By now, anyone who is paying attention to the race knows that Cox

took the unusual step of denouncing the mailer publicly and demanded

that the Cristich campaign send out a second mailer clarifying that

he had sent her a generic “I can’t endorse you” letter. (Cristich’s

campaign says it has sent the mailer out; so far, I’ve heard of no

one who has received it.)

The CRA’s mailer doesn’t stop there, however. It brings up a

charge that has been a mainstay of one of Cristich’s opponents, Chuck

DeVore: her support of Bill Clinton in 1996. It also raises the issue

of her company’s hiring of undocumented workers--”illegal aliens” in

CRA parlance--and draws all three charges together into a “3-Strikes

You’re Out” pitch, complete with baseball umpire.

Three other things notable about the CRA’s mailer. One, it

misspells Cristich’s first name in parts of its copy and in the

supposed copy of a story from the Los Angeles Times. (I checked, and

our sister paper spelled it correctly.)

Second is that, while the three charges the mailer makes are right

in line with DeVore’s stock attack, the mailer does not encourage a

vote for any one candidate (the CRA has endorsed DeVore, however):

“Regardless of which Assembly candidate you support, please join us

in opposing the election of Cristi Cristich.” (There it gets the

spelling of her name correct.)

Finally, it is always wise to check and see who paid for the

mailing. In this case, it’s the California Republican Assembly

Independent Expenditure Committee. The major funding is by Fieldstone

Co. and Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians. Yes, Indian gaming

money.

That CRA mailer aside, in Newport Beach, Cristich has easily sent

out six times as many mailers as her opponents, judging by this one

resident’s mail. (DeVore has sent a few, and Don Wagner one.)

Beyond the sniping in the 70th Assembly race, the mailers offer an

illuminating look into the campaign for the state Senate between

Assemblymen Ken Maddox and John Campbell.

In this race, illegal immigration appears to be a central issue.

(With all the budget problems and business woes in California, I’m

skeptical that it is an issue that will resonate deeply with voters.)

One Maddox mailer suggests that Campbell voted to give illegal

immigrants a “get out of jail free” card by supporting a bill that

would send illegal immigrants back to their native countries rather

than have them serve time in jail. The Campbell response argues that

Maddox wants to “spend our tax dollars to keep illegal aliens here.”

A slightly more loony version of the argument contains three

representations of Mexican ID cards, with three very familiar faces:

Osama Bin Jones, Fidel Smith and Saddam O’Malley. The mailer is from

Maddox’s campaign. Campbell’s response cries “Warning” and suggests

it is an “attempt to smear” him.

Such back-and-forth is the landscape developed by these mailers.

Perhaps receiving them in a trickle instead of a flood makes them

easier to digest. But burrowing through them all at once is a

head-spinning business.

The spinning does stop on one mailer, though. It reads, “Governor

Arnold Schwarzenegger has endorsed just one candidate for State

Senate this year.” Then beneath a photo of the governor and that

candidate, it reads, “JOHN CAMPBELL!”

On the back is a seven-line endorsement from the governor, with

another photo of Schwarzenegger.

It’s no hit piece. There’s no serious spin. And, after hours of

staring at these pieces, it’s the one I remember.

* S.J. CAHN is the managing editor. He may be reached at (949)

574-4233 or by e-mail at s.j.cahn@latimes.com.