The sound of crickets

Ground..game? (4.00 / 1)

What is this "ground game" you speak of? The only evidence 'round these parts that there's a gubernatorial primary is the legions of Pete Hoekstra and Rick Michigan signs around. If Andy Dillon or Virg Bernero are running in a primary election in a week and a half, there's certainly no indication of it here on the west side.

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by: PerfectStormer @ Mon Jul 26, 2010 at 18:55:49 PM UTC

That's not true (0.00 / 0)

I have also seen a real Bouchard sign in East GR.  See?  Diversity.  

I suspect the real culprit is the Congressional battle with the Bouchard/Land people split between Justin Amash and Bill Hardiman.  Not enough time for them to go out and care about the governor.  Fwiw, Snyder supporters are considerably less than enthuses about Amash.  

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by: Harris @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 13:13:01 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I think I see (4.00 / 3)

Brady peaking out behind one of those window screens...

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by: Nazgul35 @ Mon Jul 26, 2010 at 19:10:25 PM UTC

Resources (0.00 / 0)

Unfortunately, be it Obama, Granholm, or Clinton, we don't tend to get those type of resources for top-of-the-ticket campaigns in northern Michigan until after Labor Day.  Typically, it involves driving down to Saginaw and begging for yard signs from the Saginaw Dems.  There are a lot of Rick Michigan signs up here.  Most are illegally placed in right of ways waiting to be run down by ORVs.  We've had Snyder and Dillon representatives in our local parades and at candidate forums and community events.  No sign of the other campaigns for governor.

I don't know how things work in the Metro Detroit area, but our West Branch campaign office isn't open at 2 p.m. on Saturdays except for the weekend immediately before the election for GOTV calling or for fundraisers.  On Saturdays, we're doing doors/signs, community events and in the summer, parades.

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by: Brady @ Mon Jul 26, 2010 at 19:33:25 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Uh, maybe they were campaigning? (4.00 / 1)

If that photo was taken on a Saturday afternoon, wouldn't it stand to reason that rather than sitting around inside the office, the ground crew was out on the streets, you know, campaigning?

Just a wild thought.

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by: MSURyanJ @ Mon Jul 26, 2010 at 23:21:57 PM UTC

This reminds me... (0.00 / 0)

This reminds me of a pundit several years ago who contacted a northern Michigan Democratic campaign office in October shortly after 5 p.m. and didn't get a response.  The pundit decided that because the office wasn't open at that time in the last month of the campaign, the campaign wasn't serious.  The pundit apparently wasn't aware that on Friday evenings in October in northern and rural Michigan, candidates and their teams are working high school varsity football games.

I suspect the same thing goes with a Metro Detroit office in late July.  At 2 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon the staff was likely out knocking doors or passing out lit at some community event.  The very fact that Dillon has field offices this early, yard signs and volunteers attending candidate forums and parades is far more ground game than any of the candidates for governor, except possibly Snyder, have shown to date.

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by: Brady @ Mon Jul 26, 2010 at 23:52:11 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Of course you'd think it was the same thing... (4.00 / 2)

For weeks now, we've heard all about how Dillon has the support of union households and every thinking human being under the sun.  Running for governor being somewhat a different animal than running for a northern Michigan House district, you'd think they'd be able to dredge up one of those persons to sit in the office on a Saturday afternoon a week and a half before the bleeping vote to at least make sure there's water available for people out doing the door-to-door work.

At the very least, if you're not going to use the office, why rent it in the first place?

Among the Trees

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by: Eric B. @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 04:31:46 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

It would also be a place for phonebanking... (4.00 / 1)

That's an important part of the "ground game" too...especially for anyone not physically up the challenge of canvassing.

Just sayin'.

Now that I think of it -- and this is me being wonky -- does anyone else see something odd about the banner? The font is Courier and Courier Bold, which has rounded serifs. Compare that to the small Dillon ad at the top right of this page. The font used there is Rockwell, which has squared-off serifs.

Probably the banner printer couldn't use Rockwell, and had to go with Courier as the second choice. But I do wonder.

Of course, the smaller Dillon signs on the doors and windows speak to the photo's authenticity. Those would be nearly-impossible to fake -- especially the shadows the four window signs cast.

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by: helzapoppn @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 20:17:11 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Dillon Signs (0.00 / 0)

Actually, the Dillon signs in northern Michigan, while using the same quirky fonts, have a different somewhat different color scheme omiting the red.  The one my boyfriend has in our yard in Marshall (I'm not publicly supporting one candidate over the other) is similar to the big sign above.

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by: Brady @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 20:36:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

... (4.00 / 5)

(I'm not publicly supporting one candidate over the other)

Remember earlier, when someone said they were waiting a few minutes for me to show up and tell you why a joke you cracked wasn't funny? Well this, sir, is funny.

Among the Trees

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by: Eric B. @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 21:15:52 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Then they don't know what they are doing (0.00 / 0)

since someone would stay at the HQ to coordinate, deal with late comers and answer phones from people on the streets (like request for more material, directions, etc.)

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by: Nazgul35 @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 00:45:35 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I think it just looks like that. (4.00 / 1)

If that's the office I think it is, it's the Dillon campaign office on Jefferson heading NE out of downtown, maybe 2 miles or so from the RenCen. I drive by it every day on my way to and from work and thats pretty much how it always looks.

Matter of fact, before I saw this post I always thought it was a closed up storefront whose owner really liked Dillon and gave them some free advertising.

Oh, and I haven't seen any evidence there's a Democratic primary either, other than some signs. I listen to local radio and I drove to and from Alpena this weekend (I live in Detroit), and I didn't hear a single campaign ad. The only political ads I heard at all actually were from some credit union association for Hoekstra, which left me scratching my head since you'd think my credit union has better things to spend its money on than trying to get Hoekstra elected governor.

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by: N. Bartell @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 00:33:41 AM UTC

Amplifying data... (0.00 / 0)

One of the immediate questions raised about this photo was whether it was actually taken in the afternoon, or if someone -- Joe D. -- snuck up in the morning hours, snapped a pic of an office before normal hours, and slunk away.

Well, I took a pretty close look at this photo before posting it, including blowing it up to see if there were people in the office and to see the state of the parking lot based on reflections in the glass (maybe the guy who took the photo, who wasn't Joe D., at a very opportune moment).

Well, aside from the gates being closed behind the window, there also doesn't appear to be any lights on.  You can raise questions about whether someone working out of an office would leave the thing shut and locked in the middle of a Saturday afternoon a week and a half before the election, but the gate is clearly pulled shut behind the door.

As for the time the photo was taken, we have a couple pieces of evidence.  The first, for people who've spent much time outdoors, is the general strength of the sunlight.  It's very strong sunlight, not the kind of light you're going to get when the sun is closer to one of the horizons.  On top of that, the length of shadow for the handicapped parking spot sign is not terribly long (the sign is bent backwards, in addition). It is within a couple of hours of noon, when the sun is directly overhead.  Finally, there is the pool of water at the bottom of the photo.  Water evaporates a lot better after exposure to the sun has raised it internal temperature.  The band of evident evaporation suggests a few hours of strong exposure to strong, hot sunlight, which means afternoon.

Based on that, if I were out in the woods and asked to estimate time, I'd make the call for sometime between 1:45 and 2:30.

Among the Trees

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by: Eric B. @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 05:14:15 AM UTC

sunday perhaps? (0.00 / 0)

It was cloudy and rainy most of Saturday, but was sunny most of the day on Sunday.  Obviously there were breaks from this pattern each day, but it would be worth confirming that this was taken on Sat and not Sun.  Is there a timestamp in EXIF data of the photo?

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by: ibelieveinMichigan @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 11:21:11 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I trust the source... (0.00 / 0)

First of all, I trust the source.  I'm not at liberty to say who the source is or entirely why, but the person who took this photo has been truthful in the past and also the process by which I got the photo supports that.

Further, it's been my experience that camera timestamps are not terribly reliable since they depend on the camera being properly formatted.

Among the Trees

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by: Eric B. @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 11:48:45 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Good lord (4.00 / 1)

Eric - For someone who does a lot of bashing of people for posting "nonsense" about the Governor's race, this is a little ridiculous.

Is there a companion photo showing a bustle of activity at Bernero's campaign HQ (which doing a google map shows is right down the street from Dillon's)??  Would that even prove anything even if there were such a photo?  

I've done some campaigning for candidates here in the Lansing area, and it was not uncommon to have nobody in the office.  Granted, these weren't Governor's races, but with cellphones, it isn't hard to coordinate door-to-door activities while on the road.

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by: MSURyanJ @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 11:38:26 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

You're right, I do bash people for posting nonsense, and this is a nonsense comment (4.00 / 1)

I think you ought to refer to Nazgul's comment about this. If you have the grand and glorious ground campaign that you Dillon people say you have, your office at least has a volunteer in it during the afternoon hours of the weekend. If you're relying on buying the election, you rent office space that goes wasted when people have the greatest amount of leisure time to think about politics.

Among the Trees

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by: Eric B. @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 11:51:50 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

When and where (4.00 / 1)

If you save the photo and look at the properties of the file you will see that the photo was taken on 7/24 (Satruday) at 3:41 pm (with an iPhone).

The location was 42:20:18.6 N, 83:01:19.2 W, which google maps locates on E Jefferson, near Chene Square in Detroit.

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by: dfox @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 12:58:28 PM UTC

Time stamps are not always accurate (0.00 / 0)

Time stamps on digital photographs are like IP addresses ... people tend to give them a lot more credibility than they deserve.

I went through this a couple of years ago during the Dillon recall.  I got ahold of photos of Dillon staffers allegedly campaigning on state time and tried to verify the time and location of the photo using that kind of information and couldn't get it. So, I contacted a professional photographer who is a friend of mine and she said that if the photo-taking device is not properly formatted for date, time, etc... you'll never get precise data. Further, depending on the capture device, you might get a time stamp that represents not the time it was taken, but maybe the time it was first opened, or first edited, or first anything depending on how it works. The photos of the Dillon staffers, for instance, came with a time stamp from Sunday evening when they were first transferred from the camera used to take the photo to the computer used to Photoshop them.

I'm willing to bet that an iPhone is probably set up more reliably than your average digital camera, since people are apt to use it for things that really do require proper time formatting.  I know next to nothing about how it captures and processes images, though, so while the time stamp does support the general idea of a Saturday afternoon photograph I wouldn't bet too heavily on it based on digital evidence.  Based on the light strength and shadow length, it looks like it's earlier in the afternoon to me, but admittedly it's a two-dimensional image taken from what might be an unfriendly angle.

The larger question is why a Dillon campaign office was closed and locked up in a Dem-heavy voter area on a Saturday afternoon so close to the primary vote.  I have yet to see anyone come up with a sensible explanation for that.

Among the Trees

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by: Eric B. @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 14:04:15 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Sensible Explanation (4.00 / 5)

Perhaps a number of gays were holding a fun party with Malik Shabazz in the office playing pin the tail on Bill Ballenger.  Entry, of course, would be through the back door explaining why the front door was locked.  This is a far more sensible explanation than Dillon's team spending "a full day of campaigning at Detroit barber shops, eateries, grocery stores and outdoor gatherings" on Saturday as his Facebook page would have us believe.

The next six days, 9 hours and 33 mintues can't pass fast enough.

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by: Brady @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 14:27:24 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

You get a 4.0 (4.00 / 1)

for referencing fun parties involving gays and entry through the back door. Yeah, hahahahaha, for about 20 seconds there, I was 15 all over.

The idea that they would run a canvassing operation and leave no one at the office to take phone calls or prepare materials or even be on hand in case someone wandered in on their day off strains credulity.

Among the Trees

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by: Eric B. @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 14:51:14 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Reference (0.00 / 0)

The back door was in reference to it being a closed party, not the guests.  So just to clarify, you're laughing at my expense due to an unintentional pun rather than at an intentional gay joke.  I think it's best to get this on record now before our gay-PC sheriff and her sidekick show up.

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by: Brady @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 15:07:56 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I assumed it was unintentional (0.00 / 0)

I was being juvenile.

Among the Trees

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by: Eric B. @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 15:32:39 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

*snort* (4.00 / 2)

Ok, I can either be a sherrif or a pirate. If I try to be both, I end up looking silly.

As for your joke, I snorted and then counted the minutes until Eric showed up to tell you why it wasn't funny.  It's the little things that make MichLib special.

Do stupid people know they are stupid?

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by: JPowers155 @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 16:18:13 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

cell phones and times (4.00 / 1)

Unless iPhones are different from other phones, they get the time off the cell towers.  I have watched as my phone has magically changed from Eastern to Central time as I ride the train to Chicago.

I also just checked what happens when in Photoshop you adjust the time, and it looks like the 'date picture taken' is NOT effected.  

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by: dfox @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 20:05:50 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Okay... (0.00 / 0)

The issue here isn't how this person's phone (their camera) is formatted. For all I know, this person has their phone formatted permanently to show Tokyo time.  As the man says, "I don't know. I don't presume to know the first thing about the travel habits of Private Santiago."

As for the time stamp of this image, just as I don't know anything about how his phone is formatted, I don't know anything about the path this digital image took.  This might be the original image, and it might be a duplicate saved in a different format, or itself Photoshopped (cropped, maybe?).

No idea of the chain, so to me and based on past experience with this kind of thing, it's tainted.  Again, a couple of years ago, I dealt with photos taken purportedly on a Saturday afternoon but that came with a Sunday evening time stamp (i.e., the photo information said that photos taken on a sunny day were instead taking well after the sun had gone down).

But, more to the point ... what difference does it make, except to cloud the issue with irrelevant details.  If we were talking about Saturday morning before breakfast versus Saturday afternoon it'd be one thing. But, we're talking about a difference in time of about an hour, which in terms of this particular issue is entirely irrelevant.

Among the Trees

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by: Eric B. @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 21:58:02 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

It's not an office; it's a three-dimensional billboard (0.00 / 0)

Dave Bing and one of the Kilpatricks (can't remember if it was Carolyn or Kwame) have previously used this building in the same way. Lots of signage, but no evidence of any actual campaign operation.

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by: Jeff Wattrick @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 15:27:48 PM UTC

Well, there's obviously a downside... (0.00 / 0)

I realize that the makeup of most of the people here leans decidedly lefter-than-Dillon, but making something up to look like a campaign office that is never opened sends the message that the campaign is never open for business.  Imagine if your only introduction to Andy Dillon were signs at an office that never had people at it.

Among the Trees

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by: Eric B. @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 15:35:39 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Oh I agree (0.00 / 0)

It's patently absurd. Someone in the Dillon campaign should hang a a fake "COMING SOON: CONDOS!" sign. That way Detroiters will instinctively understand this building is currently vacant, and will remain vacant for years to come.

I wonder what kind deal the DEGC gave the developer for this white elephant of a strip mall stand-alone building?

Demolish
Everything
George (Jackson)
Cried

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by: Jeff Wattrick @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 17:26:22 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Actually (0.00 / 0)

Despite my post above I paid attention when I drove past it today (got stuck at the light on Chene) and it was hopping today at around 4:45 or so. The parking lot was full and I saw a lot of people inside, so it looks like they are using it for organizing.

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by: N. Bartell @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 21:07:46 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Well... (0.00 / 0)

The question, then, is why it was totally empty on Saturday afternoon but full today.  Saturday afternoon is a day off for most people.

Among the Trees

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by: Eric B. @ Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 21:59:52 PM UTC

[ Parent ]