Congressional Candidate Makes Pitch by Videotape

The video opens with a scroll vaguely reminiscent of the opening of “Star Wars”: “Our political system is a mess,” it reads, as patriotic music rises in the background.

What follows is a cross between a Leo Buscaglia feel-good tape and Woody Allen’s cinema verite “Take the Money and Run,” with a little Hubert Humphrey campaign commercial thrown in. Produced by the Byron Georgiou for Congress campaign, it’s the latest in home video gimmicks, political style.

Looking for a more cost-effective way to address voters, Georgiou’s campaign is distributing 10,000 of the videotapes to selected voters in the 49th District. “Byron Georgiou: A Voice for Change” is more than a simple campaign mailer, it is political theater and a harbinger of future campaigns.

Instead of buying time to run commercials on broadcast television, Georgiou has produced an eight-minute video commercial, and he is leaving it on people’s doors for them to watch at their own convenience. Clearly, Georgiou’s campaign strategists envision San Diegans gathered around their televisions, enthralled by the visual images presented on the tape.

There’s Georgiou standing on a rock overlooking the stormy ocean, his hands thrust in his jacket pockets, as the waves crash on the rocks. He looks contemplative and strong. There’s Georgiou, man of the people, in a field talking to farmers, wearing a suit without jacket. There’s Georgiou on the street, wearing his jacket, talking to women. There’s Georgiou, without jacket, talking to children, pointing at some unknown fixture in the distance.

The video tosses out imagery in the same manner a stadium vendor dispenses peanuts, including the seemingly obligatory John F. Kennedy reference: A young boy is shown delivering newspapers from his bicycle. “He was only a boy when he heard the words, but they would help mold his character and shape his life from that day forward,” the narrator says, presumably referring to the young Georgiou. Cut to Kennedy delivering his inauguration speech: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

In a fashion typical of this sort of thing, Georgiou is portrayed as a male Mother Theresa, a man who has forsaken all the privileges of society to work for ordinary folk.

“We’re very proud of Byron (pause) . . . for what he’s done,” his mother says.

Stirring words.

It is also worth noting what is not said, most noticeably the way the tape dances around Georgiou’s ex-boss, former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr., who is never named. Georgiou, a lawyer, “caught the eye of the governor, who named him to his Cabinet,” the tape says, without noting the name of the governor. Even former Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp, who testifies that he and Georgiou “worked together at getting career criminals off the street,” managed to refer to Brown without mentioning his name.

In the Unknown Governor’s administration, Georgiou “continued to seek fairness and justice for people,” the narrator says, making it clear that Georgiou does not oppose fairness and justice.

All this may sound like typical campaign fodder, and, in many ways, it is. Georgiou said this tape allows him to be “more substantive.” But the technique of delivering the message is the only thing that is really different. Instead of a superficial, campy, sound bite-oriented 30-second commercial, this is a superficial, campy, sound bite-oriented eight-minute commercial.

The testimonials are strong, and, by the end, the viewer is aware that Georgiou is an abortion rights advocate, pro-labor, pro-environment and pro-plain dressing. But the video is the message.

“I know this is a different way to run for Congress, but it’s time for some new ideas and a different way of doing things,” Georgiou says on the tape.

Already, home video is becoming more and more common in campaigns, although this is believed to be the first time it has been used to this extent in San Diego. Georgiou’s campaign consultant, Tom Shepard, used a similar method in a small campaign in San Marcos, but this is being produced on a much larger scale.

As much as anything else, the concept is in favor because it is cost-effective. Georgiou said it cost about $17,000 to create the tape, produced by the Los Angeles-based Galanty & Associates, whose credits include the Jane Fonda workout tapes, in addition to ads for several political campaigns. It cost about $1.46 per tape to reproduce the video.

Buying “four or five 30-second spots during major shows in San Diego cost about the same” as the $30,000 total expense, Georgiou said.

The campaign can also use the video to target specific voters in the district, mainly in northern San Diego. Georgiou is distributing tapes only to Democrats who are likely to vote.

“If you advertise on television, 90% of the people you reach are in other districts or they’re not registered,” he said.

Georgiou’s campaign workers leave the tapes on doors, along with a brochure and a letter. Workers return to the house a few days later to pick up the tape and solicit a response, or recruit them if the tape has driven them into a foaming rage of political indignation against the status quo.

Georgiou said it is the follow-up that really makes the concept different and effective. If they haven’t seen it, the worker gently prods them watch to it, and the precinct worker can engage them in a dialogue and, if nothing else, get the tape back so someone else can watch it. People can’t tape over it; the tab is removed from each cassette.

In the world of politics, that’s called a substantive campaign strategy.

KNSD-TV (Channel 39) won the Battle of the Padres Preseason Specials with “Padres Jeopardy.” While channels 8 and 10 did the same ol’ specials, Channel 39 had Sports Guy Jim Laslavic in the Alex Trebek host role for a fake game of “Jeopardy.” Game categories included “Colemanisms” and “Padres Managers,” which were set up strictly to provide a clever format to introduce feature segments. . . .

This month’s edition of Channel 39’s “Third Thursday” will focus on the death penalty. “The Death Penalty Debate: To Execute or Incarcerate” is scheduled for Thursday at 6:30 p.m. . . .

KFMB-FM (B100) has laid off early morning disc jockey John Fox, a 17-year veteran of the station. The other disc jockeys are being asked to extend their shifts, which has more than one grumbling.

CRITIC’S CHOICE

TWO WOODY ALLEN CLASSICS AT KEN CINEMA

True Woody Allen fans will be able to remind themselves of why he’s considered a classic original of American film tonight at the Ken Cinema, when “Annie Hall” and “Manhattan” will be screened as a double bill. Unlike his latest, “Shadows and Fog,” both display Allen at his annoying, whiny best. Both are extremely personal films with the type of incessantly witty dialogue and one-liners straight out of a Catskills nightclub that only Allen can produce. In other words, they both represent everything Woody bashers hate and everything Woody fans love.