Politicians use numerous tactics to capture voters' attention

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Nov 7, 2006 by Janice Francis-Smith

What do mobile phone ringtones, rock stars and magicians have to do with political campaigns? Plenty, if you want to get the attention of potential voters that might otherwise stay home.

Republican candidate for state treasurer Howard Barnett may be the first in the nation to offer his campaign jingle as a ringtone, said Barnett's campaign manager Shawn Ashley. A link on Barnett's campaign Web site allows supporters to download the jingle - an 8- second clip of a chorus of enthusiastic male voices singing, "B-A-R- N-E-T-T, Howard Barnett!" - as a ringtone for their phone, free of charge. The ringtone was remarkably easy and inexpensive to create, said Ashley, noting that almost any audio file can be made into a ringtone.

"We wanted to do something different, something that hadn't been done before," said Ashley. And as one supporter discovered when a phone went off in a room full of people, the ring is definitely an attention-getter, he said.

Andrew Rice, the Democrat candidate running for State Senate District 46 in Oklahoma City, started out to schedule a fundraiser, but the event snowballed into a voter registration drive that included three bands, two magicians and dozens of autographs signed by Wayne Coyne, lead singer for the band The Flaming Lips.

"It was a process," said Todd Goodman for the Rice campaign. Coyne and his wife Michelle Martin Coyne, who live in Oklahoma City, had agreed to make an appearance on behalf of the campaign. However, scheduling the event around dates for the band's international tour in support of their latest album, At War With the Mystics, proved a challenge, said Goodman.

"We realized this was probably going to be bigger than a normal fundraiser," said Goodman. A street in downtown Oklahoma City was blocked off to accommodate an outdoor stage, where popular local bands performed, while inside attendees were attracted by food, drink, Coyne and two magicians.

"We wanted to go outside the box, we definitely didn't want it to look like an ordinary political event," he said. "We may not be able to re-create that event, but in the future, if you're going to engage the younger generation who may feel disenfranchised and discouraged, you have to come up with something."