This gem of a comment appeared on a previous thread; I wonder if the secretive owner will now post a response? I doubt it, but I can live in hope.
Great real Little - the Dims are going to win Bowthorpe and you know it.They were storming around Bowthorpe delivering egg blue handwritten letters while you guys were pushing out the same crappy black and white rubbish with terrible photos.What will you feel like when Simon Wright's machine gets to work in your little nest egg in Bowthorpe? Looking forward to your election against the type of campaign you've seen in the last 5 weeks? Enjoy your council allowance while you can.
Apparently, anon, people liked the "crappy black and white rubbish" because it featured local issues with real solutions to problems rather than "mass printed to look like handwritten letters" which were strings of meaningless nonsense. I know this because the Conservatives got more votes than the LibDems. The thing is that day after the poll, the LibDem campaigners have all gone home, only here because it was a by-election, whereas everyone involved in our campaign is still here because we were all local. The Norwich Tory campaign team that took on and beat the Norfolk LibDem juggernault is very much ready to go. Quite frankly, if this is the best that Wright and his team can do then I say of the next election - BRING IT ON.
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That the Libs can mobilise mass support while you are dependent on the few local helpers is not something to take encouragement from. And experience shows the little blue ink letters go very well.
Three cheers for holding it though.
It wasn't me... I don't do anons
But, you have to admit it if the Tories had lost in Bowthorpe it would have been a catastrophic set back. One way to view the result is that the Tories saved their credibility in Norwich South by 154 votes
Quite clearly not a Lib Dems supporter, I would guess a disgrutled Tory, sorry UKip supporter. Don't know any Lib Dems who would call themselve dims!
A good result and well done in getting the hard work to pay off.
A step in the right direction for your team and the potential of a positive GE result in Norwich.
I agree with the above who says it sounds like a disgruntled Tory activist/supporter.
You're somewhat right though - if the issue in the leaflet is relevant to the person reading it they will be less likely to put it in the bin straight away. That's not to say that smartly printed materials are a bad thing as such, but I always think that if it looks too much like a slick piece of marketing material people will rightly perceive it as such and mentally place it along the same lines as the stuff they get from gas, electricity and phone companies. It no longer seems real or relevant and somewhat like they're being treated as too thick to understand anything else.
That's what I reckon anyway...
Antony, a couple of things. I think far too much weight is being placed on leaflets as a positive campaign tool. All parties twist the material so much they cannot be trusted - being politically interested I enjoy reading them to see who is twisting what, and how. They allow parties to maintain votes by showing activity; people note they get one even if they don't read it fully. I will switch vote - even though I am not a Tory voter, you do lots of work locally and thus I give you the benefit of the doubt (even if you do wake us up on Sunday mornings far too early!). The main reason for writing though was these Lib Dem leaflets with the fake hand-writing. You should pray they keep using them as they are totally counter-productive - they were freaky (and this isn't just me who said this...) and off-putting. Awful idea. I remember when Labour was using prints of clippings from the local press in their leaflets - that was quite effective - generally though, the leaflet is over-rated. If there was one tip I could give all the local parties is (for both leaflets and blogs) to keep party poliitics to a minimum - it turns people off.
I will report only on what I saw.
On the Friday before polling day I rang the candidate Andrew to explain that I had an hour between meetings near Norwich and could I help.
I joined a team of 7 local conservatives - all living in Norwich. I, aged 41, was decidedly the old lady of the team.
On the door step I heard local residents explaining that they were going to vote Conservative not because of national issues or disaffection with Gordon but because of what you, as local Conservatives have done to help them.
You, Andrew and your team should be proud of your victory. It is not an easy district to represent with many obvious problems. You have made a difference and people have honored you with their vote.
Personally, I feel the problem in Bowthorpe during the by-election was a lack of support- and it is not something the wider Conservative Party ought to take a lot of pride in. Yes it's the first time in 5 years a Tory-held seat was defended successfully in Norfolk, but the fact that the Norwich South campaign team had to do this alone is appalling, even if the fact they did do it is fantastic.
Further to Dave’s comment in an earlier thread, if the Lib Dems are planning on running a similar campaign in the general election, they will be soundly thrashed- regardless of whether the birch wielder is from Labour or the Tories. All reports from Bowthorpe of Lib Dem activity on the day suggest they had no canvass data; fine for when you have 122 supporters for a polling day, but not a lot of help when your "local" campaign team (with a Thetford candidate), has to do it by alone.
Frankly, I think Wright has less chance of winning the next GE than the cardigan-wearing burke did in 2004.
Congratulations to you and your new councillor Antony, I hope it works out well.
Sorry I forgot to mention...
David, extrapolation is usually only applied after at least three results. No-one wants you to get your hopes up at county - you're going to lose at that election as well.
CG
You have to admit, it is rather unusual for the victorious party in a by-election to feel that they have to talk down their opponents vote.
If Vicky is right, I am left wondering why so few local conservatives supported this campaign. Any thoughts anyone?
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