Saturday, July 31, 2010

Gobbledyfoobidies revisited

Re-visiting my previous post, "McDonald's is now Gobbledyfoobidies", which looked at why the blue hell a company with a century of name recognition like Brink's security would choose to forgo all that and call themselves Broadview instead.

http://johnspartan.blogspot.com/2009/08/mcdonalds-is-now-gobbledyfoobidies.html

You probably remember seeing a lot of their millions and millions of dollars in TV advertising that had variations of pretty white women having a party and then getting assaulted by house guests who, umm, left and came back and then the alarm went off and they talked to someone on the phone, that made it all go away somehow.

At the time, I wondered if anything was sillier than giving up Brink's for "Broadview". As is often the case, it seems the answer to that question is YES... basically having wasted the last 6 months or so (and the aforementioned millions), because the company is merging with ADT to be known as.... ADT.

Seems someone at ADT has this wacky idea that if you have a brand name people know and readily associate with your product, you may want to consider using that name.

Maybe in 6 months they'll change again to Gobbledyfoobidies.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Why Rubio won

Marco Rubio will be the Republican nominee for US Senate from Florida because he has a Biscayne Bay Young Republicans polo shirt.

Now that may sound self-aggrandizing (and it is) but permit me to explain.  Come in the Wayback Machine back to April 2009, a time before the Washington Post or National Review or Fox News knew Marco Rubio from Paulina Rubio.

Marco Rubio was willing, even eager to speak to whatever conservative group would happily have him.  The Biscayne Bay Young Republicans meeting had several speakers... the intrepid Marcos Sendon spoke about the first Tea Party and the launch of some crazy website called SFlaConservative.com.  Lubby Navarro spoke about her ongoing campaign for state house.  And Marco Rubio announced he was running for US Senate.  With the campaign starting here, the Rubio campaign would get known over the next 9 months or so of being willing to speak to any small group that was open to hearing messages of traditional conservative values.  As our meeting wrapped we presented Marco Rubio with a Biscayne Bay YRs polo shirt, as much to advertise the shirts as to thank him for announcing his campaign with us.

Governor Crist received countless invitations to speak at little local clubs.   His campaign not only did not accept these offers, in my own experience they were simply not even acknowledged.  The Crist campaign was almost wholly focused on events where he'd get $1000 and up checks.   And while YR clubs and REC meetings and women's groups are great ways to meet the locals, I'm afraid we're not often of the sort to max out on donations for a dinner.

Then, something happened.   Marco Rubio won one little straw poll.   Then a 2nd, then a 3rd.   The momentum came before the money.

Now, to be fair, when both candidates got known Rubio had the resume and remarks that the Republicans ultimately chose overwhelmingly.  Bob Smith came to speak to the club as well, and his campaign couldn't get past the fact that he was a former U.S. Senator, and no one in FL seemed to think that qualified him to run for U.S. Senate.

But how did the leading candidates get known?

Because Marco Rubio came to shake hands, chat, answer questions, and get his Biscayne Bay Young Republicans polo shirt. 


Palomilla and politics

It was like one of those big multi-generation family reunion photos... except, ya know, everyone actually wanted to be there.

Taking over half of an otherwise sleepy Los Ranchos in West Miami on a Thursday night was both a testament to the strength of a movement and the roadmap for the successful return of a national party.

The meeting was the investiture of the first board of the Miami-Dade Teenage Republicans (TARs).  As president of the Miami Young Republicans, which serves the 18-40 community, I was honored and pleased to be asked to conduct the swearing in of these energetic and optimistic young men and women.

The well-spoken, eager next generation of party movers & shakers was impressive, and probably the story of the evening.   But perhaps equally important was the show of solidarity and strength... I say this because the executive director of the Miami-Dade Republican Executive Committee, the secretary of the Old Cutler Republican Women's Club, and the founder and president of South Florida Conservative & its corresponding initiative all made it a point to attend and show encouragement and support. 

All these leaders of local organizations, myself included, came out with the same purpose --- to both give encouragement to and receive encouragement from this new group.

How will conservative causes return to prominence?  Only through coordinated efforts that start with the people who have Marco Rubio on speed dial, go through the people who are tapped into the community that "never got involved before but cannot sit on the sidelines any longer", and all the way down to the young men and women in groups such as the Miami-Dade TARs who are just beginning to look into how they can support campaigns and initiatives.

Over the past few months I've been happy to get to know Juan D'Arce, candidate for state house 112 and sponsor of the Miami-Dade TARs, Rudy Leal-McCormack, the club's spokesperson, and now Alejandro Moreno, the TARs chairman.  It's easy to say the future is in good hands... but after Thursday night's event I can say I'm optimistic about the present.

50 Most Beautiful People Slideshow 2010 - TheHill.com

50 Most Beautiful People Slideshow 2010 - TheHill.com

Wow. If this is the 50 most beautiful people in Washington, DC... this goes near the top of my list of reasons why I'm happy to be in Miami instead :-p