Lowering the Bar

Obama's Campaign Font Said to Offer Hope, Geometric Simplicity

For those of you wondering about the secret of Barack Obama's success, that mystery has been solved-- it's the font:

Steven Heller: As a branding expert, can you tell me what it is about the typographical scheme of Senator Obama's campaign that is unlike his challengers' ?

[Graphic designer] Brian Collins: [A]s a result of their approach to design, the Obama campaign really stands out. From the bold "change" signs to their engaging Web site to their recognizable lapel pins, they've used a single-minded visual strategy to deliver their campaign's message with greater consistency and, as a result, greater collective impact. The use of typography is the linchpin to the program.

This appeared in the New York Times not too long ago, although you probably remember most of it from Obama's book, "The Typography of Hope."  It continued:

Q: What is it about the typeface Gotham that adds personality to the Obama brand?

A: I don’t think that Gotham adds any personality to Senator Obama's brand. I think it just amplifies the personality that's already there. . . . With that said, though, there's an oxymoronic quality to Gotham, which is why I think it's become so popular. It has a blunt, geometric simplicity, which usually makes words feel cold and analytical . . . , but it also feels warm. It's substantial yet friendly. Up-to-date yet familiar. That's a tough hat trick. And Gotham has another quality that makes it succeed: it just looks matter-of-fact. . . .

Q: Could this have been accomplished with other typeface(s)?

A: Yes.

There was an oxymoronic quality to this exchange, which sounded important while actually being sort of pointless.  It's a fine font, there's no question.  But is it the font you would want to see when you get an email from the White House at 3 a.m.?  That's what you should be asking yourself - does it have the strength of character(s) we need to win the War on Terror?  I have a lot of respect for McCain, but that guy is still using Courier, for Christ's sake.

Whatever happens in November, at least we will be done with WingDings.  Hopefully.

Link: Campaign Stops (a New York Times blog)
Link: See Gotham in its native habitat at BarackObama.com

Idaho Official: Democratic Primary Will Be Three-Way Contest; Also Pointless

Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa said on April 16 that the state's Democratic primary, set for May 27, will be a three-person race.  In addition to better-known candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Keith Judd has also qualified to participate, Ysursa said, even though he currently is a Texas resident.

Specifically, he is residing in the Beaumont Federal Correctional Institution, where he was sent after being convicted of making threats at the University of New Mexico in 1999.  He would likely have difficulty serving as President if elected, as he is required to live at the BFCI until 2013.  Although I suppose he could pardon himself.

Ysursa said that Judd, shown here in a prison photo either wearing a long ponytail or being attacked by a ferret, qualified for the ballot by sending in the required form and paying the $1,000 fee.  Judd also managed to qualify for a write-in slot in Kentucky, Indiana, Florida and California, but only Idaho is actually putting his name on the ballot.  According to Ysursa, his hands are tied because Judd filled out the right form and paid the fee.  "We did some checking," he claimed, and "there was nothing legally to keep him off [the ballot]," as far as they could tell.  (Note to self: in-state residence, lack of criminal record, physical freedom, not legal requirements to run for office in Idaho.)

Democrats are a little suspicious as to why Ysursa, who is a Republican, has let Judd on the Democratic primary ballot, given that he previously disqualified a Democratic candidate for state senate on the grounds that the candidate, though apparently not a prisoner, was registered to vote in the wrong district.  (Note to self: registration requirements strictly enforced in Idaho.)  "We have this really good candidate who can't get on the ballot," said a state Democratic spokesman, "and this yahoo prisoner in Texas who coughs up a thousand bucks can."

Ysursa did not respond to that directly, instead sticking to the story that though his office "did some checking," they simply "got conned."  He also pointed out that Judd's presence on the ballot will not make any difference anyway, since Idaho's delegates are chosen in caucuses, not in the primary.

"The good thing," he said, "is the Democratic presidential primary has absolutely no legal significance."

Link: CBS News

Kevorkian May Run for Congress

Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who was released on parole last year after serving eight years for second-degree murder, reportedly will run for Congress in a hotly contested House race.  A local paper reported on March 12 that Kevorkian had obtained the paperwork that he would need to get his name on the ballot.

Kevorkian was involved in the deaths of well over 100 people in the 1990s, deaths he characterized as assisted suicides.  (He is shown here rather gleefully posing with the apparatus he invented for that purpose.)  In 1998, he was charged with and convicted of murder in Michigan.  He was released last June.  As some of you may be interested to learn, the Constitution does not prohibit a convicted felon from serving in Congress.  It only requires that you be at least 25, a U.S. citizen, and that you reside in the state you plan to represent, which of course Kevorkian has been doing for at least the last eight years or so.

Kevorkian plans to run as an independent, joining the race between GOP incumbent Joe Knollenberg and Democrat Gary Peters.  His platform will reportedly focus on prison reform, bringing integrity back to government, and not helping kill people (at least, not personally).  Ruth Holmes, Kevorkian's "longtime jury consultant," who did pretty well until that last outing, was quoted as saying that "Jack is in great spirits and he intends to do this.  He just hopes for some honesty in government."  According to Holmes, Kevorkian needs to collect 3,000 signatures by mid-July in order to qualify for the ballot.

According to this 2005 report, Kevorkian has shopped a book manuscript tentatively titled "The Life of Dr. Death," and a movie version was planned.  Producer Steve Jones reportedly said Ben Kingsley was at the top of his "short list" of actors who he hoped might play Kevorkian.  According to the Internet Movie Database, a movie called "The Kevorkian Chronicles" is currently in production, produced by Jones and directed by Barbara Kopple, an Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker whose prior work also includes "High School Musical: The Music In You."  (Ben Kingsley is not mentioned.)

Kevorkian's sudden interest in running for public office is probably coincidental.

Link: Huffington Post

Florida Election Too Close to Call Because Nobody Voted

Tired of feeling like your vote doesn't count?  Move to Prospect Bend, an unincorporated community in Broward County, Florida, near the town of Tamarac.  There, every vote counts -- or every vote would count, if they could get one.

Tamarac city officials have proposed annexing Prospect Bend, something that requires approval by a majority of registered voters in the community to be annexed.  Residents of Prospect Bend: 200.  Registered voters: 68.  Voters who showed up: zero.  Keeping the polls open for twelve hours -- priceless?  No, it cost $2,500.

Reportedly, city officials are considering a mail-in ballot next time around, in an effort to get at least one person to vote on the matter.

Link: CBS News

Ballot Proposal to Turn Alcatraz Into "Global Peace Center" Fails

Let's take a short break from mourning for the shattered dream of a Romney presidency and remember another casualty of Super Tuesday: the Alcatraz proposal on the San Francisco ballot.  Proposition C would have changed city policy towards the island, hoping to turn the former prison into a more uplifting kind of monument, but it failed to pass.

I voted for this proposal.  I have long thought it is a shame that, while New York City has the Statue of Liberty on its harbor island, San Francisco, of all places, has a prison.  Yes, it's historical, but why is that a piece of history we want to remember?  Sure, it's a tourist attraction, but if you enjoy vacation trips that involve cramped boat rides and being locked in a cell, Carnival Cruise Lines has a better buffet.  So I say, blow up the prison and build something there we can be proud of.

And there's the problem -- getting San Franciscans to agree on what we would be proud of.

Proposition C, unfortunately, was sponsored by the "Global Peace Foundation," which wants to turn Alcatraz into -- not surprisingly -- a Global Peace Center.  Exactly what this means was not entirely clear, and I'm not sure it was all that clear to the GPF.  While the plan did involve removing the main prison block, which I'm all for, it then involved replacing it with a "Harmonium," which I'm less sure about.

The Foundation's website (which may now be down) described the Harmonium as "an aesthetically beautiful multi-faceted geodesic dome" that would "employ advanced three dimensional holographic sound technologies and other special effect technologies which will which will [sic] promote and elicit a deep meditative, transpersonal and transcendental experience!  An Ascension Experience!!"  The sun would shine on it all the time.  There would also be a statue of St. Francis and as a nod to those who love prisons, an Alcatraz Museum.  The "jagged cliffs" of the Rock would be smoothed and "redesigned with graceful curves," and a "permanent MEDICINE WHEEL and LABYRINTH" would provide "sacred sanctuary and ceremonial spaces."

The GPF's director says that this vision came to him in "a flash, and I wasn't on any drugs, either."

The director, who goes by the name "DaVid" (or "Da Vid" -- reports vary) told the SF Chronicle the island is a "major power point" for planetary energy.  Apparently it can also generate money, because when asked who would pay the estimated $1 billion cost of the project, he said that "money will come."  He suggested the Bechtel Corporation could "create some good karma" by doing it for free.

I voted for this despite the freaky details because I like the basic idea and didn't expect it to win anyway.  Apparently, about 58,000 people felt the same way.  Proposition C failed, but got 58,750 votes (151,555 voted no), meaning that 27.94% of San Francisco voters supported this fairly loony proposition.

1.13% of them supported Mitt Romney.

Link: New York Times
Link: San Francisco Chronicle
Link: Global Peace Foundation

Candidate's Platform: "I Don't Plan to Do the Job"

Evidently a strong believer in smaller government, Ed Hamilton says that if elected he will shrink the size of the government in Kerr County, Texas, by at least one job -- his own.

Hamilton, a 77-year-old Republican, says that the position of treasurer is an unnecessary one that costs the county $46,000 a year, and ought to be eliminated.  As it stands, however, the state constitution requires the legislature to provide for county treasurers (and county surveyors), whether anybody needs one or not.  Tex. Const. Art. 16, sec. 44.  Short of a constitutional amendment (which Hamilton advocates), the strategy appears to be to have a treasurer who won't do anything, including cash his own checks.  And Hamilton is running for that position.

If elected, he said, "I don't plan to do the job, [and] I won't accept a paycheck."  His plan is to "hand the duties to someone else" -- he didn't say who that would be -- refuse pay, and in the meantime petition for a referendum that would allow counties to wipe out treasurers wherever they may be found.

The incumbent Hamilton is challenging feels differently.  Mindy Williams, who was appointed to the job last year after the previous occupant resigned, and who is also a Republican, said she was "shocked" by Hamilton's proposal.  She said her position was "essential to county government" because it provides accountability.

Hamilton continues to argue that it is redundant.  He says that if he is elected, he will start not doing the job immediately.

Link: AP via Yahoo! News
Link: San Antonio Express-News

Colbert Is Tied in Election for Conservation District Board, But Cannot Serve

Stephen Colbert's run for president ended earlier this month after Democrats in South Carolina refused to put him on the primary ballot.  Now, a second disappointment: he will not be allowed to participate in a runoff for a seat on the board of the Colonial Soil and Water Conservation District in Williamsburg, Virginia, although he is in a three-way tie for second.

Colbert and two others (both students at the College of William and Mary) each received three write-in votes in the November 6 election.  Under local rules, the tie will be broken by drawing a name out of a hat, but Colbert will not be included because he's not registered to vote in Virginia.

Matt Beato, a student at William and Mary, was quoted as expressing concern about the write-in process, possibly because he was one of the two students in the race.  (The article doesn't identify him as such, but it's hard to see any other reason why someone would be interested in an election for the Colonial Soil and Water Conservation District Board, unless it's the fancy office.)  "I'm not crazy," Beato said, "but any nut case could win with three votes."  (The "I'm not crazy" disclaimer also seems to support the idea that Beato was a candidate.)  "Somebody should make sure that doesn't happen."

Colbert has not yet commented on this travesty, as far as I can tell, but another candidate has.  A comment posted on the Comedy Central website, purporting to be from a fourth and winning candidate, Gregory Hancock (who claims 1050 votes), clarifies that Colbert is in a three-way race for second place and that the drawing will determine only who can participate in a runoff with the winner, namely him.  It's a pretty good post:

As the one (and only...) candidate on the ballot for the two Soil and Water Conservation Board Director positions here in Williamsburg, I'd like to commend Mr. Colbert on his well-organized write-in campaign that resulted in his second place finish (he got 3 votes, I got 1050). As I am sure Mr. Colbert knows, there are few elected positions with as much influence on the daily lives of Americans as Soil and Water Conservation Board Director. We are constantly called upon to make the tough decisions on issues that weigh heavily on the nation, like which winter cover crop to grow this year or whether pickerel rush is a good choice for wetland plantings. I am sad that a silly technicality requiring candidates to be a resident of Williamsburg stood in the way of his being elected to the board. Were it not for this, he could have participated in a runoff with the two undergraduate students . . . But, perhaps Mr. Colbert will consider moving to Williamsburg to establish residency before the next election in 2010. It is never to early to begin campaigning, and I’d be happy to help advise him on making a successful bid for Soil and Water Conservation Director.

Link: FindLaw
Link: The Colonial Soil & Water Conservation District
Link: List of Candidates for Virginia SWCD Directors (listing only Hancock in Williamsburg)

Bulgaria Suffering From Too Much Democracy; Must Import Envelopes to Hold It All

Reuters News reports today that so many candidates are running in local elections next month in Bulgaria that the ballots are now too large to fit in any Bulgarian-made envelopes.  Due to this humiliating deficiency in the domestic Bulgarian envelope industry, authorities have said that they will have to import more than 11 million foreign envelopes that are sufficiently large to hold the ballots, which are reportedly well over six feet long.

According to Bulgarian news sources, however, electoral authorities in the capital, Sofia, are angrily denying reports that the ballots will be that long.  In an article titled "Bulgaria Assuages Giant Ballot Fears," authorities were quoted as saying that the ballot there will actually be only ninety-four centimeters (or about three feet).  Since this will apparently still require imported envelopes, it remains unclear why the sub-one-meter ballot is something to crow about.  I'm also not sure exactly why the Giant Ballot was causing "fear" among Bulgarians to begin with, but it is at least good to know that the fear is being assuaged.

I've actually been to Sofia, believe it or not, and while it is a pleasant enough little town, there is not a whole lot going on there, or anywhere in Bulgaria, for that matter, which may explain the attention being paid to the Giant Ballot.  (The airport in Sofia, the capital city, has exactly six gates, and rather than give boarding passes of any kind they just open the doors and everybody runs for the plane.  But I digress.)  For example, I note that among the top stories on the Sofia News Agency's website are reports that the French president's wife will not be accompanying him to Bulgaria in October, that Miss Bulgaria was the second runner-up in the Balkan Beauty Ambassador Pageant this week, and that a fierce debate broke out in the country's Interior Ministry after a street in Sofia was declared off-limits to cars ("Pedestrian Zone Drives Wedge Between Interior Minister, Sofia Mayor").

A country in which these are the top stories probably welcomes news of any kind.

Link:  Reuters via Yahoo! News
Link:  Novinite (Sofia News Agency)

"Californian For Obama" Says He Has Done Nothing Illegal

Last week, a spokesperson for Barack Obama's campaign said that a group called "Californians for Obama" had been asked to close up shop despite its success to date in raising over $10,000 in campaign contributions.  Among their concerns: the group is not contributing any of that money to the campaign.  Also, there's only one "Californian" in it.

The Californian for Obama turns out to be Emmett Cash III (yes, his last name is "Cash"), who runs an official-looking website that offers various Obama-related activities in exchange for contributions.  For example, the current offering is a "Women of Power" cruise to Mexico on September 21, on which you would be able to meet powerful women such as Maya Angelou and Eartha Kitt, or at least you would be able to meet them if either of them were actually going.  Neither one had ever heard of the trip, and Angelou has already endorsed Hillary Clinton anyway.  That did not please people like Ercell Hoffman, a 65-year-old woman who paid over $2,000 to sign up for the cruise, thinking it would help Obama.

In fact, the San Francisco Chronicle found that the group has not given a dollar to any campaign, let alone Obama's, and that most of the money has already been paid out to one Emmett Cash III.  (Based on the Chronicle's graphic, it has mostly been used for gas, which is awfully expensive these days, and some snacks.)

Cash, who the Chronicle found had been a registered Republican until last month, previously ran "Citizens for [Colin] Powell," which also did not give anybody any money.  Cash denied doing anything illegal and pointed out (accurately) that the "group" is registered with the Federal Election Commission.  Unauthorized fund-raising groups are legal so long as they do not fraudulently suggest a connection to the campaign in order to gather donations, for example by using the candidate's name -- which could be a little bit of a sticking point for "Californians for Obama."

Reportedly, Cash had agreed to shut his operation down after being pressured by People Actually For Obama, but as of today (Wednesday), the website was still up.

Link: San Francisco Chronicle
Link: SF Chronicle story via ScrippsNews

Hungarians To Vote On Siesta Referendum

Apparently eager to be as democratic as possible now that they have the chance, Hungarians have repeatedly exercised their new ability to put referendums on the ballot.  The only ones that have passed so far were the two in which citizens voted to join NATO and the European Union.  But now Hungarians will have a chance to vote on something really important: whether they will have the right to siesta.

As you probably know, a "siesta" is a relatively short post-lunch nap, common in southern European countries, Latin America, and also in North America, where it is referred to as the "conference call."  According to Wikipedia, the concept is common in many  tropical or subtropical countries as well as in China (which I guess is partly subtropical).  Article 43 of the Chinese Constitution actually could be read to provide a constitutional right to a siesta, although I also note that Article 35 supposedly protects the right to free speech and assembly, so I wouldn't get too carried away with this stuff in the People's Republic of China.

The Hungarians seem serious about it, though.  Under their system, the country's National Election Committee must approve proposed questions as being "fit for a referendum," and then supporters must collect 200,000 signatures (there are only eight million voters in the whole country).  On Monday, the committee approved the question: "Do you agree that the Parliament of the Republic of Hungary should make a law about introducing the siesta?" and so the collection of signatures began immediately, or sometime later that afternoon, anyway.

Sadly, the committee did not approve a companion proposal that would have enabled Hungarians to vote themselves the right to free beer in restaurants.

Link: Reuters