Keith Christensen spends like Howard Dean

Republican city councilman turned ex-Republican city councilman Keith Christensen has been spending his campaign contributions like a drunken sailor Howard Dean.


In January 2004, Howard Dean switched (at least) his New Hampshire signs from blue with yellow writing to yellow with blue writing.


Keith too has changed his white background signs to ones with green and blue backgrounds and white writing. Why?

Because both candidates had too much money too soon and didn't know how to manage it. Howard Dean had something like $50M in 2003. He spent money on those "perfect storm" orange hats and tote bags for supporters to door knock in Iowa (which flopped), late night paid programming in Madison, WI (where he lost), and to change the color scheme of his signs in New Hampshire (where he got second place).

Keith Christensen raised over $500K to date. Yet with half of his money gone, he is right about where he was when the last poll was taken. Why? Well he isn't exactly progressive. And he has spent money on billboards for a mid-sized city race and he has changed color schemas for his lawn signs.

This means that he had to have people go around and replace old lawn signs by asking current supporters to swap signs. This takes time effort and risks people saying why don't you just take the old one and don't give me the new one. It is also a sign of desperation.

In 2004, when I saw this in New Hamsphire, I knew HoHo wasn't going to win. The move is designed to catch your attention and seem like a sudden growth of support, when in reality, it is the same number (or less) of supporters. So when I saw the new signs cropping up on my dog walks, I knew Keith isn't going to be left standing on September 12.