FEATURE: How much is too much?

Since I started writing a political blog, I've ended up on all kinds of mailing lists for candidates, be they Democrat or Republican, at the local, state, and national level. I used to read them all, now I only read them on occasion.

The reason I burned out on them is because some people have a tendency to abuse their press release ability. For example, check out these press releases I've received from Dan Leistikow with the Edwards campaign:

Today:
EDWARDS STATEMENT ON "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" ANNIVERSARY

Yesterday:
EDWARDS BOOK, "ENDING POVERTY IN AMERICA," RELEASED TODAY
EDWARDS STATEMENT ON IOWA LEGISLATIVE SESSION

Thursday:
EDWARDS STATEMENT ON IOWA ANTI-DISCRIMINATION BILL
EDWARDS STATEMENT ON SENATE PASSAGE OF IRAQ FUNDING BILL

Wednesday:
JOHN EDWARDS CAMPAIGN TO HOST DEBATE WATCH PARTIES ACROSS IOWA ON THURSDAY
EDWARDS CALLS FOR ROVE TO BE FIRED AND GONZALES TO RESIGN

Yes, that's 7 press releases in 4 media days, and today isn't over yet. Also, in case you forgot to check your calendar today, we're still 7 1/2 months away from the caucuses. I like Edwards, but even I'm not taking the time to read all of those. If I were on his communications team, I'd be worried that the press is going to get as sick of this as I am.

I worked with a basketball coach once who rarely raised his voice. I was with him one night when his opponent had a coach who screamed the entire game. I asked him about it afterwards and he told me, "If you scream all the time, how will your team know when you've got something that's really important?"

Right now, Edwards' communications department is screaming all the time. And if they keep doing it, they're going to run the risk that people will ignore them when they've got something important.

KL