Suburban political parties United, Focused for a Change

You can't tell the suburban political players without a scorecard. Even with the signs popping up on suburban yards like crocuses, it's confusing. All the suburban political parties promise unity, vision, progress, focus, open government, fiscal responsibility, transparency and more.

"I think any name of a party is meant to encapsulate the essence of the group," says author Bruce Newman of Buffalo Grove, professor of marketing for DePaul's Kellstadt Graduate School of Business and editor in chief of the Journal of Political Marketing. "It could have meaning in terms of the mission of the party, the person who started the party or just attention-getting power."

Fox Lake has three people running for village president. An Independent is taking on the Focused Party and the United Party. If you want an independent and focused government that will unite the community, who gets your vote?

"When there are tickets running against each other, it's neighbor vs. neighbor," explains Lake County Clerk Willard R. Helander. "It's more the issues than the name of the party- Many of them want to keep the same words, and they just change the order- Lots of adjectives and action verbs."

There are candidates vowing to be the Right Choice for Island Lake and candidates promising to be For a Better Island Lake, but the lone write-in candidate couldn't run as a member of the Right Choice for a Better Island Lake party because that name is too long.

Political parties can't be longer than five words, Helander says. There is, however, no letter count - as the community of Mettawa proves by pitting the Mettawa Transparency Party against the Open Space Fiscal Responsibility Party.

"Both of those sound like spelling bees," Helander quips in a very nonpartisan way.

I refer to both of them as the 2009 Political Buzzwords Party. Although there is plenty of competition on the call for unity, vision, transparency and change.

"They are playing off the Obama campaign is what they are doing," Newman says. "That's the hot thing these days."

There's Change 4 Bensenville, 2009 Bloomingdale Unity, United for Change and United for Round Lake in Round Lake, Round Lake Park's RLP for Change, Hawthorn Woods Open Government Party, the Hanover Park Progressive Party, Round Lake Beach's United Vision Party, United Addison, United for Ela, the United Party of Fox Lake and Fox Lake United, United For Warren, Roselle United Party and the CommUnity Party of Hanover Park, which proves you can't spell community without unity, but you can make it look like a typo.

Wauconda United is squaring off against Wauconda First, which sounds like a protestant church league basketball showdown.

"Sometimes they are creative," Helander says of party names, "and sometimes they are very long and don't flow well."

Avon Forward running against Avon One offers township creativity. Both parties sound like Watchmen superheroes to me, although both seem far less catchy than Avon Calling.

The Naperville Township Democratic Organization doesn't have a superhero name, but it did mail out a flier with an old movie poster promoting its seven candidates as "The Magnificent Seven," starring Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Horst Buchholz and Brad Dexter. Were they shooting for the youth vote, they might have gone with the poster from the 1998 TV series by the same name.

Lindenhurst Today could be a cable-access morning show, while Round Lake Heights' Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow party has a time warp feel. But I do like the battle brewing in Lake Zurich between Village Pride and CARE Lake Zurich. When I think of CARE, I think of the worldwide hunger charity. When I think of Village Pride, I think of a summer parade with rainbows and a cowboy, construction worker and Indian singing about the joys of staying at the YMCA.

But the names aren't chosen for those of us on the outside looking in.

"Over time, the name of the party could carry a lot of marketing influence," Newman says. Political parties do brand marketing just like retail products.

"I see them getting together over dinner, over drinks, coming up with a name they all subscribe to," Newman says. "It might not have to say anything other than to be catchy enough to stand out-a snappy party name might make that difference."

The town of Golf has a snappy name. Its Golf First Party, which is running unopposed, sounds like 18 holes of responsible, progressive, visionary, focused unity for a change.