Ah the political campaign season, where yard signs sprout like daffodils and irises in the sun.
Here in my little village, the yard sign duel was on in earnest, well, between two of us anyway. A little microcosm of American politics played out on two lawns. But it took an unusual twist last week.
More below the orange political bunting below.
Flag Day was the big annual village parade. As it happened, my yard sign for Dave Domina's campaign for the US Senate came in the US Mail. (The Postmaster called my house to pick it up as it was far too large for my mailbox.)
I rushed over to the post office and erected it in my yard just before the start of the parade. (I was leading the parade with the American flag this year.) As it happens, I live across the street from the village park, where most of the parade viewers were seated.
The sign made the front page of the local newspaper in the background of shots of the parade.
The only other person that has a yard sign is another village trustee, who has a sign for Ben Sasse (R). The remaining village trustees are not displaying anything yet (but there are a few months to go).
A few days before the latest village board meeting, I noticed her sign for Mr. Sasse was gone from her yard. I mused to my wife, "Did M---- have a political epiphany?"
Broadwater is not particularly vicious when it comes to politicking: board seats are nominally non-partisan and most people here are very conservative. It did concern me that her sign for Mr. Sasse had disappeared. Though I'd not spoken in a few days with Mrs. M, I was pretty sure she'd not changed her position despite my quip to my wife.
The concern here was someone stole her sign (though her own home is at the edge of the village and her sign even when it was up was not particularly visible). The last thing our puny liberal populace here needs is accusations of tampering with someone's electioneering materials.
So just before the village board meeting Monday night, I asked her about her yard sign with the village attorney present. I asked if someone had stolen it, as that was a Felony (though it would be unlikely to be prosecuted unless there were witnesses or video tape of the theft). I also pointed out that if it was, her best bet would be to contact Mr. Sasse's campaign and report the theft, as campaigns track those sorts of things.
She said no, it had not been stolen. It was thrown in her backyard.
It seems her teenage sons are opposed to Mr. Sasse's campaign, and every time she puts the sign up, her sons throw it in the backyard of her house. She said she'd given up putting the sign up in her yard as her sons will just uproot it again, and she is not interested in reporting them for electioneering violations.
In the meantime, someone lobbed a cup of soda at my Domina sign last week, and today I picked up a used baby diaper hanging over it.
Mr. Domina made his signs out of plastic, easily washed.
As far as I know this is the first time in the village that there has been attacks against yard signs in any campaign (though in Mrs. M's case it is her own family doing it). The only sign up now in town is Mr. Domina's in my yard.
Should the Senate yard sign campaign get more intense, be assured I will flail you with more boring details from this little corner of Nebraska.