How I Almost Vanitized an Election

I almost vanitized an election.   

The almost-vanitized election was the September 15th Democratic Primary for District Attorney in Westchester County, home to such first-name-only Democratic luminaries as "Bill and Hillary," and "Martha."  (If only Cher would move to Chappaqua!)

The almost-vanitized candidate was Tony Castro, who had been the Democratic nominee for DA in 2001 and 2005, losing both times.  Castro's Primary opponent was incumbent DA Janet DiFiore, who, in 2005, was elected as a Republican, but became a Democrat in 2007.  Westchester has 110,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans.

I supported Castro in 2005, so I suggested that he get a vanity plate that says TONY 4DA for his car, and to use in his campaign.  Castro agreed, and I designed the [apparently] first-ever vanitized political campaign poster and lawn sign, which had an image of the TONY 4DA vanity plate and the slogan "THE REAL DEMOCRAT."  

I thought that, as the [apparently] first candidate ever to use a vanity plate in a political campaign, Castro would generate positive news coverage, of his campaign and of my forthcoming book, LCNS2ROM – LICENSE TO ROAM: VANITY LICENSE PLATES AND THE GR8 STORIES THEY TELL (www.vanityplatesbook.com). 

However, Castro ordered the TONY 4DA vanity plate too late, and didn't get it before the Primary. 

Although NY DMV officials had approved the TONY 4DA plate (it's a political message, protected by the First Amendment), Castro had been spooked by DiFiore's relentless, and effective, attacks on his integrity and competence. 

So Castro chose not to hold a press conference with me to promote the vanitized posters and lawn signs that I designed, as he had agreed.  I paid to print 100 vanitized Castro posters, so I'm going to sell the 75 (11" x 17") posters that I have left; people have told me that they're really cool (price: $15, plus $6.95 shipping + handling).

Despite the vanitized Castro lawn signs that I placed throughout Westchester – I never knew how hard earth could get until I tried to penetrate it with metal lawn sign posts – DiFiore easily won the Primary, with 63% of the vote.

If I were to get a vanity plate for the Westchester DA's race now, it would say IM4JANET.   

After running as "THE REAL DEMOCRAT," Castro did a complete about-face on the issue of party loyalty: He's apparently supporting the Republican DA candidate, and he accepted the Republican nomination for justice of the NY Supreme Court. 
 

While a vanity plate won't win an election, it would generate positive media coverage – and make the campaign a lot more fun.  Candidates with short names have an advantage when it comes to vanitizing.  Here are some political vanity plates that could be used in the Empire State in 2010:
            • CUOMONOW [Andrew Cuomo];
            • DAVE4GOV [David Paterson];
            • IM4RUDY [Rudy Giuliani];
            • IM4LAZIO [Rick Lazio];
            • IM4 TIM [Congressman Tim Bishop];
            • HALL ROX [Congressman John Hall, a former rock star];
            • NITA NOW [Congresswoman Nita Lowey]; and
            • UVOTE4ME [VOTE 4ME is already taken]. 

© 2009 LCNS2ROM, INC.