Loose Cannon Special: Red DMer, Blue DMer
Don’t know how many folks realize it, but there’s going to be a presidential election next Tuesday.
Both George W. Bush and John Kerry have bobbed and weaved through a variety of issues, few of which were germane to the direct marketing industry. Those of us who watched the town-hall style debate and hoped someone would ask about the fortune of, well, our fortunes, were sorely disappointed.
Hence the reason for this mid-week request. I invite readers of any political stripe to put aside their personal preferences and pick the candidate who would best serve the direct marketing industry. I’ll bundle the responses and present them as next Monday’s Loose Cannon column.
A few ground rules:
1. Any candidate on enough state ballots to win 270 electoral votes is eligible for discussion. This includes Republican George W. Bush; Democrat John Kerry, Independent Ralph Nader, Libertarian Mark Badnarik, Green Party candidate David Cobb; and Constitution Party candidate Michael Anthony Peroutka. Alas, it rules out other worthies, such as the Personal Choice Party, the Prohibition Party and your immediate supervisor or pet, no matter how much better than the other candidates he, she or it would be.
2. Please limit the discourse solely to the candidate’s impact on direct marketing. There are many, many issues that can cause fire to shoot out of partisans’ eyes. Leave these hot topics for “Crossfire” or “The Daily Show.” This is – at least nominally – a forum for direct marketing debate.
3. Keep the debate civil. This means referring to the candidates by their last names, and not using loaded nicknames such as chimp (or any other simian-inspired term) or Frankenstein, or any campaign buzzwords such as flip-flop; Orwellian; hard work; he can run but he can’t hide; AWOL; or “a tiny scratch.” And any references to pretzels or ketchup will be deleted as well.
What does this leave? Plenty. Our sister publication Catalog Age currently features a wonderful review of some of the issues the industry faces (http://catalogagemag.com/mag/marketing_decision_time). This piece includes the candidates’ positions on Internet access fees, postal reform and privacy. The FTC, the FCC, the Supreme Court and the Department of Justice will each have their agendas set by whichever wonks the next president selects. And there is basic economic stewardship, which will determine consumers’ ability to buy all the wonderful things DMers sell.
All signed responses will be treated as submissions for publication (sorry, no anonymous opinions will be printed.) I will also note in an introduction that opinions presented do not necessarily indicate a respondent’s actual preference. Please have your responses in by close of business on Friday, Oct. 29.
Let the debate – hopefully the last debate – begin!
To voice an opinion, please contact [email protected]
