527 having communication problems

Last week the Inside Edge got several emails about a new group, thegrassroots.us formed by three Republican apparatchiks, Marvin Taxar, Jim Hunsaker and former Douglas County Sheriff Mike Acree.

So over the weekend we cruised their website.

We don't know how politically astute they are. But we can certainly say for sure that no candidate wants them doing mailings for them based on what we saw on their site. Marketing people they are not.    

The site starts blandly enough on its front page.

The group has a 501 (C) 4, a 527 and a small donor committee fund, they tell us, and is "dedicated to informing and educating the people of Colorado about the issues of our times, bringing the will of our members to the attention of our elected officials, promoting traditional American values and supporting candidates who endorse those values at the ballot box."

Blah, blah, blah.

The rhetoric is distinguished only by its spectacular blandness.   

But then we got the "Our Voice" page.

It has a montage of various fascist flags, including Nazi Germany's and a communist flag, above a slug line that screams "Our political parties have lost touch with the people!" It gives one the impression that they are a bunch of fascists, in part because it blends in with their masthead.

"You have about 3 tenths of a second to make an impression," says one marketing director of a Fortune 500 company that we asked about the page. "The first impression there is not good. Then, if you read the text, it doesn't match the images on the page. There is very little connection between the fascist images and the message."

So for those of you running a Republican campaign this year, you might want to drop them a line and ask them to refrain from any 527 activities on your behalf.

One of the mailings they send out for you just might start with "Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!"