Two for one

Marisue Horton wrote a letter to the editor that was published by the Wisconsin State Journal on an issue I've been thinking about with the Madison School Board race. Why are Maya Cole and Lucy Mathiak running a joint campaign and is it a good strategy?

A couple of weekends ago there were two campaign cards in my door. One was from Cole and one was from Mathiak. I thought it was interesting but probably just two folks sharing volunteers to get more done. But this week I received a piece of mail from the campaigns of the candidates with both of them on it so they have definitely linked themselves.

But is this a good strategy? Campaigns often link themselves with other candidates on literature, but it is usually an unknown candidate linking themselves to a well-known popular incumbent. Not only are both of the school board candidates trying to make names for themselves yet, they are running in two completely different kinds of races. One is running in an open seat and one is running against an incumbent so they might have been better off on their own using different strategies to fit their own race.

Horton, the letter to the editor writer, brings up another good question in her letter. Cole and Mathiak are trying to give the impression that one of the problems of the school board is that it is split into alliances. If that is true, why should voters vote to send another alliance?