Dueling News Releases
There was a debate between the Republican and Democrat candidates for governor last night in the Quad Cities. I know this not because I watched or read news accounts in advance. Rather, I know because of the flood of news releases that clogged my email in box immediately following the event.
This is not my first day on the job, so I simply deleted them all without opening them. Before you think that’s short-sighted, consider that the news releases were all prepared before the event was even held, declaring that their side was the clear winner for articulating their candidate’s clear vision for the future of our state and pointing out that the opponent proved how out of touch he was with Iowans.
You don’t craft something that long, with direct quotes from sources, have it vetted, and hit “send” in a couple of minutes…but that’s how I knew the so-called debate had ended, the flood of emails within just a couple of minutes after the host said “good night”.
They come from the campaigns themselves, the two state parties, the national governors’ groups for each party…and they use the same phrases used in their regular, daily emails where staff members attempt to earn their salaries by dropping those spam-like daily reminders into the in box.
Tonight, the Republican and Democrat candidates for U.S. Senate debate. I doubt I’ll watch…but I have a feeling I’ll know when it’s over.
