I'm serious. I have a general idea of the McCain logo on websites and on the video I've seen, but I really have not seen a McCain yard sign in a yard. I think it's pretty weird, because I'm in San Diego.
San Diego is a Navy town; there's no denying that. I live in an area called North Park, which is east of Balboa Park, the large city park that is the home of the San Diego Zoo and the Naval Hospital. I see them each day when I go to my office. A lot of Navy families live in my neighborhood, because it's near the 32nd Street Naval Station and North Island Naval Base. I have figuted that I would have seen some McCain paraphenalia by now.
Alas (Alas?), I have not. In fact, the only sort of Republcan paraphenalia I've seen at all lately is a very weathered "W" bumper sticker on an old pickup truck.
Now the neighborhood is in a blue district, and we are represented by rather liberal (but largely ineffectual) Democrat in Congress, Susan Davis (and, in fact, all of my current legislative representatives are women). Still, I don't really think of 92104 as a complete bastion of liberalism.
I have seen a lot of Obama signs of various types. There are the regular ones, but there are also a lot of affiliation signs as well, such as "Teachers for Obama." There are more of them every day.
I know there are a number of conservative republicans in my neighborhood. We had a couple of contentious mayoral elections in the last couple of years, and although it's supposed to be "nonpartisan," everyone knows where you stand based on the candidate you supported. We had a conservative businessman try to buy the election away from our relatively centrist Repug mayor, and their respective signs were all around. Those same yards are empty now.
As I mentioned above, I would have thought the Navy contingent in the neighborhood would include at least a few McCain supporters, but so far, nothing. I've got to think that maybe out in Duncan Hunter or Duke Cunningham country there is a McCain sign in someone's yard. I'm going on a trip tomorrow, and I am going to be looking extra carefully, but at this point, I don't think I'm going to see much. It's just odd that at the beginning of September there is no McCain presence in a Navy town, in the state next to McCain's home state.
Perhaps the signs will come out now that the convention is over. That's fine, but it's odd too. Usually, the Repugs are really quick to get their signs out long before this.
At this point, I will say I have no illusions that there are no McCain signs out there somewhere in this country. Perhaps some of you in redder places can check in on this. I'd really like to know what's the score in the yard sign campaign.
Of course, basing a candidate's support on his or her yard sign coverage is probably a very risky strategy, so I could be totally full of Palin popovers. However, If my experience is not some kind of fluke, I will wonder if this is a harbinger of things to come in November.
So what's the scoop on yard signs in your neighborhood?