Kathleen, Mabel & I have been canvassing for an aldermanic candidate in our ward.
We have a Frank Douglass sign in our front yard. The New Haven Independent has done a piece on how some candidates are apparently lifting their opponents’ signs without permission.

Folks quoted in the article, and many of the commenters, downplay the importance of the signs, but they’re being disingenuous. Well-run neighborhood campaigners are rigorous data-gatherers on par with census takers or online cookies. A lawn sign is important currency for a campaign which otherwise has only promises to go on. It’s easy to tell someone you might vote for them, then not do so, but it’s a majorly meaningful gesture to put a sign outside your house proclaiming your personal support. It announces that you’re willing to argue a position.

If someone removed the Frank Douglass sign from my yard, I wouldn’t consider it as anything less than a personal affront.

As of this writing, the Frank Douglass sign in our yard is still standing, having survived not just the impulsive acts of candidates and their followers but Hurricane Irene besides.

The primary is less than a week away, Sept. 13. The polling place in our ward is the lovely, recently renovated Troup School on Edgewood Avenue.