Are you on Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider’s email blast list like I am? If you aren’t, you’re definitely missing out. The woman’s PR machine is like a magical combination of ridiculous and relentless. It seems like every day, a new note’s waiting for me in my inbox.
They include headlines like these:
“Counting on you” for money, baby. Give! Give! Give!
“Not impressed” with the leaders in Washington. Who is?
“Won’t stand for a shutdown” of the federal government. Nobody should.
To be perfectly honest with you, I don’t read most of them. Shhh! Don’t tell the PR company (Shallman Communications).
Today’s latest and greatest breaking news that I just couldn’t wait to not read: “SCHNEIDER’S PEOPLE-POWERED CAMPAIGN TOPS $370,000 RAISED IN THE CA-24 CONGRESSIONAL CONTEST.” Yup, all caps. At first glance, it looks like she’s a top fundraiser. At second glance, it looks like she’s leading the pack of Democrats—including William Ostrander and current Santa Barbara County Supervisor Salud Carbajal—and the words in the release are parsed carefully. She raised approximately $145,000 in the third quarter—July 1 through Sept. 30, 2015.
The first paragraph of the release calls this curly-haired lady from Santa Barbara the “leading” candidate out of the Democratic campaigners competing for the soon-to-be vacated—and extremely coveted—24th District congressional seat now firmly occupied by Lois Capps.
That comes with a caveat: The poll she’s touting, the one that has her leading the pack of donkeys (asses! Hah!), was comissioned by her campaign, and it doesn’t really give a complete picture of the race. As some political peeps say, it was way too early. The real campaigning won’t ramp up until after the two parties declare their undying support for one candidate. In my personal opinion, polls are sort of stupid. They only give an accurate picture of the people who, in this case, answered their phones. Depending on what questions were asked, how they were worded, and what information was given out beforehand, answers can be swayed.
The full poll has yet to be released—but here are the numbers Schneider’s campaign and Lake Research Partners proffered in July: Of 350 people polled via telephone,
21 percent of them were undecided, 23 percent said they would vote for Schneider, 24 percent said they would vote for Katcho Achadjian (the Republican candidate who currently is a California Assembly member based in San Luis Obispo), and only 15 percent of people said they would vote for Carbajal.
Here’s what Politico writer Elena Schneider (I know, right?) had to say in an August article about the race: “Party officials and strategists say that Carbajal is a significantly stronger candidate than Schneider.”
AND fundraising numbers also tell a wholly different story than the poll does about her campaign and whether she’s leading the Democratic pack. Personally, I’m more inclined to believe the dollar signs; as we all know—it’s the money that wins elections, not the candidates. Call me jaded, but I’m merely a little winged creature with a bird’s-eye view of big picture things.
Although the public won’t see the official numbers reported to the Federal Election Commission regarding money raised in the third quarter until mid to late-October, a little birdy from Carbajal’s camp told a Sun reporter that more than $400,000 racked up on the campaign spreadsheet during the last three months. That brings the county supervisor’s campaign fund to more than $1 million raised so far this year.
Schneider’s raised $370,622, according to my favorite PR company. According to the FEC filings from the first two quarters, Carbajal raised about $629,000, Schneider hit $225,000, Ostrander raised approximately $9,100, Achadjian raised about $124,000, and Justin Fareed—the other Republican candidate—raised approximately $225,000. Looking purely at the money, Carbajal is the leading candidate, but, like I already said, it’s pretty early to be claiming front-runner status. Big party money isn’t even tied up in the race yet.
And Schneider’s fellow candidates have yet to give themselves that prestigious title. Their annoying PR machines mostly send out emails whenever they get a new endorsement from a union, politician, or famous name—also super annoying, by the way. I can’t claim to know much about politics, but I do know when things rub me the wrong way, and making overarching statements that don’t seem to fit the reality of a situation definitely ruffles my feathers.
The Canary is ready for the election to be over, and the crazy campaigning hasn’t even started yet. Sigh. Send comments to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 8-15, 2015.
