| We looked at our 24 award winning ads from 2012 to reflect on what made them successful. |
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| Glenn Reynolds has a great article in USA Today regarding the recent hysteria over guns in schools—that is, the pastry, finger, toy and bubble variety. You should read the whole thing, but there is one point in particular that really stood out to me, rega |
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| As filmed at the “Forward on Climate” rally this past Sunday in Washington, D.C.:
I don’t know if he’s evil, stupid, or just in college. More on the rally here.
On a slightly more serious note, I’ve never understood the more Malthusian impulses of t |
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| Political Consulting Firm Honored with Awards for Excellence in Direct Mail |
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| Putting Saturday USPS delivery in perspective. |
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| This morning, the Washington Post reported that the USPS plans to stop Saturday delivery beginning Aug 1. What does that mean for political mail? As they say, the devil is in the details, which aren’t readily available yet, but I think I can make some gen |
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| There is no shortage of important considerations guiding the immigration reform debate. I don't presume to suggest the right approach, but whatever is done, a more economically efficient approach is a no-brainer. |
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| With recent retirement announces, the 2014 Senate map is changing rapidly and could provide some big toss-up races next year. |
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| The folks at LearnLiberty.org give an introductory lesson into public choice theory and the phenomenon known as “concentrated benefits and dispersed costs”: |
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| Phil Mickelson recently created an uproar by suggesting that California’s heavy tax burden may cause him to move. People were so outraged that Phil publicly apologized for his remarks. But that doesn't mean he was wrong. |
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| Framing a negative issue the right way is the difference between a good and bad mailing. |
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| Now that most Americans have had the joy of receiving smaller paychecks following the fiscal cliff deal that was only supposed to raise taxes on rich people, here comes more good (read: horrible, terrible) news—the most likely avenue to get our deficits u |
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| A proposed assault weapons ban would affect all guns and ammunition, and a ban on high capacity magazines would substantially increase the regulation of many popular handguns. |
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| Last year, Kansas passed a bill massively overhauling the state’s income tax laws. In particular, one of the provisions exempted “pass-through” income (i.e., income earned by an LLC) from Kansas income taxes. Currently, both federally and in Missouri, for |
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| As we once again approach the national debt ceiling, and with our national debt continuing to pile up ($16.3 trillion and counting) we need to have a serious discussion about our spending problem. Instead, we have the trillion dollar coin. |
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| Axiom may have had a great year, but there's nothing like a tough election cycle to encourage you to improve. |
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| In an effort to keep the Holiday spirit alive, I offer the following comparison: Chuck Hagel’s selection is like a left-over Christmas fruitcake – there is something there for everyone to hate. |
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| While Obama holds a slight lead among battleground states, various components of his total support show that Romney will be victorious tomorrow. |
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| Last Monday, the New York Times published an editorial entitled, “A Big Storm Requires Big Government,” in which they sing the praises of FEMA and wring their hands over Romney suggesting, in an environment of soaring debt and competing priorities... |
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| Oh sure, you could wait and see what happens in Ohio to figure out who will win the Presidency. But that's so…1932. |
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| I opened up my copy of The Star on October 13th, staining my lily white hands with the great ink of the 1st Amendment, and I saw the result of a party controlled by President Barack Obama. An article penned “GOP only wants to help rich white males.”
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| Exploring Truth in Politics |
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| The USPS is getting a bailout from political campaigns, and a few other facts that might interest those with a campaign bent. |
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| Judging by their editorial yesterday, my hometown paper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, must be tired of simply hanging on by a thread. The editorial, it seems, must be their farewell address as they throw off the last remnants of journalistic integrity. Pa |
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| Dan Murphey, the former chief of staff at the Department of Housing and Urban Development raises some important points in a recent article on the National Review (Obama's November Surprise). I have summarized below.
Amidst all the discussion of the g |
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| Have you ever scolded your child for doing something they knew was wrong? Or, simply pointed out that how they conducted themselves, the decisions they made – well they were simply wrong. Your son or daughter has their head hanging, not looking at you i |
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| Namely, that only 9% of households surveyed by pollsters in 2012 were successfully interviewed. If you click through to the Pew study, they explain away any potential for non-response bias by pointing out that the demographic detail in the Pew survey appr |
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| So here it is…we the race the last 40 days of this campaign will remain Todd Akin v. Claire McCaskill – the race political scientists and political junkies alike will study for years to come. Not just because of Todd Akin’s gaffes, but because he is goin |
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| The way we communicate is changing, but people predicting the imminent doom of the postal system might as well shout that the sky is falling. |
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| The Presidential Race could still go either way. |
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| The Wall Street Journal reports today on GM’s latest attempt to get out from under Uncle Sam:
Earlier this summer, GM floated a plan with Treasury officials to repurchase 200 million of the roughly 500 million shares the U.S. holds in the auto maker, a |
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| Trying to inoculate on an issue is like building a sand castle for your opponent to stomp on. |
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| Sometimes I read history. At least I know history, even if I don’t read it as much as I should. At least I have the history channel. Anyway, where have all leaders gone in politics?
This is going to be a series of blog posts about the lack of integ |
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| A look at what's next over the next 7 weeks. |
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| Struggling Americans received more unwelcome news this week. Moody’s has announced that it may follow in the footsteps of Standard and Poor’s and downgrade the U.S. credit rating. The decision, as Moody’s explains, depends largely on upcoming congressio |
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| How much do you think things like this actually help students learn?
Guitierrez, along with all of Portland Public Schools’ principals, will start the new school year off this week by drilling in on the language of “Courageous Conversations,” the dist |
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| Is your campaign only doing broadcast television? You're missing out on important opportunities to maximize your vote share. |
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| A look at memorable phrases from past campaigns. |
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| The latest nonsensical rant from the light-workers at Gawker.com is titled, “Let’s Have a Maximum Income,” and begins by congratulating the French president on his proposal to tax 75% of earnings over $1.24 million before moving into some hand-wringing ov |
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| All across Missouri last Tuesday we saw conservatives battle conservatives and wage battles against each other based off of one ticky-tac vote after another or criticism over who works where or who hangs out with whom…what was it for?
Well, for one, th |
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| On Sunday, George Will wrote a column in support of Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan as his running mate. It’s a decent piece—high-minded and reassuring, drawing a good contrast between Ryan’s remarks in Norfolk and Obama’s notorious Soptic ad. It’s the kind |
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| The Summer Olympics are upon us again. As much as I love to track the medal count and to watch the nightly recap of American-dominated events, some of the hottest news surrounding the games has nothing to do with the events or NBC’s tape delay. |
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| Sarah Palin may be one of the most maligned, adored, hated, revered, feared, liked and taunted former Vice Presidential candidate in the history of the universe.
Well, she is 4-0 in 2012 US Senate Primaries. Call it what you will, but those in the s |
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| A look at Mitt Romney's VP options by geography. |
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| The Washington Post conducted a survey just after the Fourth of July that asked voters if they had to choose their presidential candidate not based on the candidate’s platform or vision for the future, but rather their performance and execution of their p |
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Incredibly, campaigns sometimes forget to have a message. Through no fault of their own, campaigns get stuck in projects, tactics, just trying to get the daily checklist of action items done and move onto the next day.
Candidates as well get stuck g |
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| Whenever I find myself in a conversation/argument/rant about taxes and spending, inevitably someone throws out a line like, “I happen to like police and firefighters and schools,” or “taxes are the price we pay for civilization.” I’m not sure what’s worse |
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| In an interview with George Stephanopoulos in 2009, the President refused to accept the argument that a mandate to buy health insurance is equivalent to a tax. |
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| The people of California still have the ability to stop the needless construction of the railway by voting against a tax increase in November. |
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| There is a theory in public policy called the Niskanen model—or budget-maximizing model—in which it is proposed that a bureaucracy will expand until a society can no longer sustain it, completely devoid of the typical marginal cost/marginal benefit equili |
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| Remember the time that campaign used QR codes and they worked really well and won the campaign? Me either. |
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| In its landmark decision on Thursday, the Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate, the core provision of ObamaCare, as constitutional. There were several legal arguments considered by the Court, including a critical question about the federal governme |
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| While the article is officially titled “Our Supreme Court Has Lost its Honor”, I would suggest that a more accurate title might be something like “C’mon guys, this totally sucks…..” |
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| Everyone knows about the Immigration decision released on Monday and I think the entire world knows about National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius and Florida v. United States Department of Health and Human Services that will be decided on |
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| The Supreme Court is expected to release its decision on the Obamacare case this Thursday and it is generally expected to strike down at least the individual mandate. It’s a huge ruling, as it would likely be the first time the Court has recognized an act |
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| Growing up in my household taught me the important lesson that if privileges are abused, then they can be taken away. It seems a reasonable form of punishment.
President Obama clearly didn’t grow up in a household like mine. He has misused his execut |
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| It's hard to imagine a world in which people don't check their mailboxes; but eventually it's going to happen. |
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| The Heritage Foundation recently released an interesting 5-point summary of the terrible effects Obamacare will have on younger generations, including subsidizing the insurance of older generations, loss of affordable coverage, increasing student loan de |
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| This is a very interesting interpretation of where our country might be headed, based on historical evidence of governments across the world and throughout time. We can learn a lot from history, if we pay attention.
In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scotti |
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| What happens if the Supreme Court strikes down the Healthcare bill? |
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| When a pundit, a political science professor, a journalist, or just a political junkie offers their two cents to a Presidential candidate, it's likely fairly easy for the candidate to dismiss the advice. |
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| Steve Chapman of Reason.com has a good article about the supposed “wage gap” in reference to the Senate Democrats’ latest attempt to legislate business decisions via the Paycheck Fairness Act. It reminded me of my heady days as an undergrad at Mizzou, whe |
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| Have you ever noticed that political mail look different from commercial advertising? It's not just about the over-the-top imagery or the hysterical rhetoric, one of the biggest differences is how big they are. |
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| You know that you’re a political geek when you get excited about a recall election in another state that failed.
Yet, Tuesday night’s thumping of Big Labor was exciting for me. Scott Walker stood on principle and was rewarded. You can read hundreds of |
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| We run races across the country – from Arizona to New Hampshire, Florida and everywhere in between. No doubt the top issues in this election year are jobs, the economy, debt and spending – the usual economic consequences of a failed Washington system. Y |
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| No matter what happens in the Wisconsin Recall Election today, this article is ridiculous. |
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| There’s a good column at Reason.com about Mayor Bloomberg’s latest regulatory overreach—banning all “sugary beverages” over 16 ounces. Before you roll your eyes and say, “This will never happen,” or if it does happen in New York, “It will never happen in |
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| The Vice Presidential guessing game is well underway. The oft-mentioned candidates like Marco Rubio, Rob Portman, Susana Martinez, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan and Bob McDonnell are all good picks. All are substantive candidates with strong reform credential |
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| Now that the presidential race is in full swing, I am sure you have started to notice all of the negative advertising, particularly more so than positive advertising. Many people complain that campaigns have become too negative, to the extent that it mig |
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| History happened 9 days ago in Kansas – finally we had a governor sign a sweeping pro-business, pro-growth, pro-jobs piece of legislation.
It took, maybe, 16 years? But they got it done in Kansas, finally.
The media’s favorite whipping-boy, Governo |
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| I believe that immigration reform legislation is often susceptible to policy additions that seem excessive to the general public. |
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| I, and all my colleagues here at Axiom, would like to send a sincere thank you to all of our military men and women--and their families--for the action they take and the sacrifices they make, as we spend today in remembrance of those that have made the ul |
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| Your time gets more valuable the closer you get to a campaign, so it pays to prepare. Here are five common things that tend to get overlooked, leaving campaigns scrambling: |
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| Take that, Mr. President. Economics professor and president-elect of the Southern Economics Association, Paul Rubin, had an interesting tutorial for President Obama in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal. I always enjoy learning new things from people who ar |
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| If George Lucas were writing a script about the presidential campaign, this period would be known as “the polling wars.”
Every new poll now is cheered by the partisans it favors and dismissed by those who are behind. We hear discussions of likely voter |
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| Big story of the day for people like me is the new Gallup poll that showed that Americans who identify themselves as “pro-choice” is at an all-time low at 41%. Better still – the number of people that consider themselves “pro-life” is nearly an all time |
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| Since November 7, 1992, I have rooted against Notre Dame. This wouldn’t be so odd if I didn’t slightly resemble the ND mascot. Trying to explain how an Irish, Catholic, red –headed football fan dislikes Notre Dame can be difficult. Imagine if a bunch o |
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| Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook and newly-minted billionaire, recently relinquished his US citizenship ahead of the Facebook IPO. His stated reason for doing so is to facilitate his interest in working and living in Singapore, but one could be for |
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| Imagine personally interacting with over 80,000 households, live, all at the same time. For Members of Congress, political candidates and even companies, this is now a reality. Thanks to a revolutionary communications system, Teleforum or commonly calle |
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| Why did Ron Paul run for President, suspend his campaign but try to keep his delegates? It's all about earned media. |
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| This week a District Judge struck down a National Labor Relations Board rule that green-lighted Ambush elections for Big Labor. The Judge ruled not that it was an unconstitutional rule, but rather that there was not a quorum of the Board present.
These |
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| Saw a recent electoral map that, as of today, had Governor Romney at 204 and President Obama at 201 Electoral Votes with these states as pure toss-ups:
Nevada 6 Electoral Votes
Arizona 11 Votes
Iowa 6 Votes
Wisconsin 10 Votes
Michigan 16 Vo |
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| Every year about this time, most major newspapers in Missouri write an article like this that that details the carnage to come in the upcoming final week of the Missouri Legislative session. Invariably, the article will contain a laundry list of unaccomp |
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| By now you’ve surely heard about J.P. Morgan’s recent revelation of a $2 billion trading loss (about 0.6% of an estimated $374 billion portfolio). If not, there’s some quick background here.
Of course, all the usual suspects came out of the woodwork c |
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| Who would have ever thought that Joe Biden would start a revolution…? Revolution may be too strong a word, but since Biden’s comments on Sunday in support of gay marriage, the President of the United States, the Senate Majority Leader and the House Minor |
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| This has already been an unbelievable week in politics.
The French tossed out a President. Greece elected a parliament that probably cannot form a governing coalition and will have to revote. Indiana’s Senator of 36 years, Dick Lugar, lost in a primary |
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| So, I am taking my boys (Christian and Jack) to see the Avengers Friday night. I started thinking about what a Republican Avengers movie would look like. For brevity, I’ll only concentrate on the main characters in the movie, apparently there are a lot. |
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| An Open Letter to Peggy Noonan:
I thought we had turned a corner. I thought that after 2008, when it came to candidates for office you had learned your lesson. I thought you would no longer be enamored with superfluous qualities like temperament and ex |
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| $7,890 (not including interest). That’s how much I have left to pay on my student loan. I have been paying down my loan in modest payments since graduation in 2004. |
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| Back to the War on Terrorism
News over the last couple days have helped the Nation, however briefly before we get back to the Kardashians and the White House Correspondence Dinner, turn its focus towards the war on terrorism.
President Obama heading |
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| Your campaign is going great - right up until your candidate starts getting ripped apart in people's mailboxes. How do you respond and take back the momentum? |
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I am not an expert on international politics. Oh sure, I watch the British Prime Minister’s Question Time on C-Span, but that makes me a geek- not an expert.
However, even a non-expert like me can read the tealeaves that our friends overseas are sen |
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| I find this article fascinating. Whether or not you agree with the premise of this article, it does beg one question. What happens if the House and Senate are Republican majorities (obviously not a given) and Mitt Romney becomes the next President? I b |
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| Peggy Noonan had a great column this past Friday in the Wall Street Journal. Here’s a taste:
“But—and forgive me, because what I'm about to say is rude—has anyone noticed how boring he is? Plonking platitude after plonking platitude. To see Mr. Obama o |
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| Sgt. Gary Stein, a recently discharged U.S. Marine, was given an ‘other-than-honorable’ exit from his career of service to his country for expressing himself politically on Facebook.
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| A lot of columnists, sportswriters and fans in the region are having fun with the Kansas City Royals news slogan- Our Time. Even if you do not follow baseball avidly in Kansas City, it’s been hard to miss the excitement building around the 2012 Royals.
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| When someone suggests going negative, the first thought that comes to mind might be dark, high contrast mailings full of suggestion and innuendo. Some of the time that might be the case - but more often, the stigma is unfairly applied. |
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| Pollies
The Pollie Awards are the Oscars for political consultants. Basically, political consultants each year are recognized for excellent direct voter contact or campaign strategies. In 2010 Axiom won ten Pollie awards for our campaigns in Kansas, |
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| This is a statement issued by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. While the subject matter of the letter has been widely publicized over the past several months, the tone of the message is notable. Catholic voters often occupy the ideologi |
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| The following chart came across my mailbox last week, courtesy of Business Insider:
[IMG]
It purports to show the impact of the upcoming tax increases if Congress and the Obama Administration fail to act. As you can see, the coming tax increase is l |
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| The already tired debate over Ann Romney’s ‘job’ or lack thereof has me considering what should be valued most about women and what I want in a First Lady... The First Lady has more power than she’s often credited for, as most married men can attest.
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| The average positive mail campaign will accomplish two objectives: increase favorable name identification and insulate the candidate against attacks. A good positive mail campaign will build natural contrasts between your candidate and his opponents. |
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| One of Axiom’s exciting Congressional candidates in 2012 is retired United States Air Force Colonel Martha McSally. McSally announced for Congress 68 days from Tuesday’s Special Primary Election Day, and for the first time in her career (28 years) she wa |
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| My dad coached football for 30 years. Sometimes fans thought that his offense was too predictable. My dad liked to remind them that everyone knowing the Tailback was going to run behind a pulling Guard, is different from stopping it.
His point was that |
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| As I was reading through this article, I began to wonder if the Independent voters in the middle of the electorate will accept President Obama blaming President Bush for their current lot in life. What is the Statute of Limitations for blame in politic |
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| Here at Axiom, I do data. What that means is that when a campaign wants to send mail, conduct GOTV efforts or make calls, I provide the best who and where based on their polling, messaging and election strategy.
Why is that important? One word: scarci |
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| The end of every era ushers in a new opportunity.
Sunday, April 15th concluded the existence of the longest running conservative blog in the State of Missouri, The Source.
The Source began in the spring of 2006 and after countless posts, a couple |
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