Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Hurricane Katrina makes a mark on signs of the times for candidates
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The latest from our Blue Ridge Caucus politics blog
From The Roanoke Times
The town of Buena Vista was awash in political signs on Labor Day, but this year something seemed to be missing: Jerry Kilgore's name.
While much of the town was covered in Tim Kaine signs, with a few from other candidates scattered in, Republican gubernatorial candidate Kilgore put a new twist on the sign wars by not competing with Kaine at all. Instead, he noted the absence of his signs in a speech and said the money that could have been spent on signs was instead going to the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross.
"We decided that rather than engage in yet another sign war that really doesn't decide anything for voters, we'd donate the money to help our Southern neighbors," Kilgore said. "As a result of this decision to do the right thing, we're sending $5,000 to the hurricane victims of Hurricane Katrina."
The move received praise from parade spectator Bob Breeden, who said he thought candidates put out far too many signs around town on Labor Day.
"I mentioned to Mr. Kaine, as I did last year to Governor Warner, the overkill on the advertising," said Breeden, a 29-year military veteran. "Of course these were printed long before we ever heard of Katrina, but there's going to be a backlash."
After political speeches by the candidates for statewide and local office, volunteers could be seen removing political signs around Buena Vista.
