Milford chronicle., 1960-08-19

You may not realize it-yet-but
both presidential aspirants have
their eyes on your morning mail
According to the political pros
calling the shots for candidates
Dick Nixon and Jack Kennedy, you
can expect a steady drumfire of di-
rect mail campaign literature be-
tween now and the time the polls
open November s. The reason: the
American voter has not only be-
come harder to sell, but harder to
reach, and the candidate who hopes
to sweep into Office solely on TVS
electronic beam will have another
guess coming to him.
That's the conclusion drawn by
the Business Mail Foundation after
spending weeks talking to strate-
gists in both the Nixon and Ken
nedy camps in an effort to link the
growth of direct mail campaigning
with the effect of the urban
sprawl"
In private study just completed
for its members, the Foundation at
direct mailing to the fact that ito
days voter is essentially sophis-
ticated shopper. Far better inform
ed, therefore more cynical, he will
reject glib generalities and cam
paign oratOry. He wants to know
precisely where the candidate
stands in relation to specific issues
affecting him and his family"
"The tide has turned" the study
explains. with the urban exodus,
congressional representation is in
fiux. In many states, voter discon-
tent with machine politics, largely
fomented in abOve-average income
homes located iii the suburbs, has
created a groundswell of reform
movements. Moreover, many young
voters are apprehensive over the
way the nominating conventions
were conducted, and are adopting a
calculated 'wait-and-see' attitude
that could prove fatal to both can
didates on election day"
While direct mail politicking
predates the founding of our coun-
try a Committee of Correspond
ence" headed by Samuel Adams and
Ben Franklin helped plant the
seeds of revolution-1960 will see
its fullest use to date. On all po-
litical levels-national to precinct
direct mail is being mobilized to
penetrate the "green curtain" of
Suburbia.
The exploding metropolis, the
constant mobility of 10000, 900 Am
ericans, not only has played havoc
with the local election boards, who
have been forced to turn to auto
nation as a means of keeping their
registration and voter lists up to
date; the shifting population also
has rendered virtually useless all
the painstaking work put in over
the years by precinct captains in
developing tightly disciplined vo-
ter blocs, the study asserts.
While the waning impact of the
big city press has been compensat-
ed for by the. power of television,
BMF finds from interviewing can
didates, party workers and voters,
that the average American still
prefers to be addressed as an indi-
vidual, rather than at a unit of
mass audience" Next to old-fash-
toned door-to-door canvassing,
nothing has a more lasting effect
on the undecided voter than skill
fully-prepared campaign ammuni-
tion dispatched by mail"
The spectre of the undecided vo-
ter haunts both Nixon and Kennedy
forces, the report maintains. Indeed,
both candidates are bidding eagerly
for the 21 million unregistered vo-
ters and the two million or so Am
orleans who will reach voting age
by November in an effort to build
up substantial margins of victory.
And direct mail has been the means
employed so far.
For example. great emphasis is