GOPinionPlus: Signs of the Times

During two of the last three weeks, my wife and I were visiting the panhandle of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.

During visits to four Alaskan communities during the two weeks preceding the primary election, we saw a total of one political campaign sign. That sign, attached to the second floor façade of a home on a hill in Ketchikan, was the size of a standard yard sign. We had to look up to see it! It was for the incumbent U.S. Senator, Lisa Murkowski.

Last week, we travelled through Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Utah. Travelling east to west across Washington over two days, we saw three yard signs. Their primary election was that week.

Idaho was bereft of political signs, as was Montana. No signs were evident in Utah, either. I am betting Brigham disapproved.

Wyoming had the mother lode, it seems. On one vacant corner of an intersection of two six-lane roads, in what claimed to be a town, there were as many as ten signs ranging in size from yard size to 4X8. Then, in Afton, a town of 100 homes, there was a sign in the window of a store.

There was an archway over Main Street that purports to be constructed of more elk antlers that any other arch on the world, and one political sign. We were there on Wednesday, one entire day after the statewide primary, so we figured everyone running for office had travelled across the state and collected all the signs after the polls closed on Tuesday.