Slogans and Campaign Strategies
Cole's main campaign strategies captured the essence of him as a populist, and tried to appeal to working-class people, picturing him as their "working class mayor". He made frequent use of refrains and slogans, and made a point of using simple language in public while almost always speaking in the third-person while describing his accomplishments. He appealed to common sense when describing current events and explaining public administration strategies, something that political observers acknowledged as being extremely effective, while critics dismissed as demagogy.
An example of his style of campaigning is evidenced by his self-made political slogans. On latter campaigns for reelection, Cole's simple campaign motto was "Cole sigue" ("Cole continues"). Cole's best known musical jingle, a march, was composed by him; its main refrain: "Porque Cole es el alcalde / que ha hecho más por Mayagüez / decimos con alegria: Cole sigue en la alcaldia" ("Since Cole is the mayor / who has done the most for Mayagüez / we gladly say / Cole goes on at City Hall") was featured in his weekly campaign TV show. In one airing, the show opened with the children from his family (his own kids, nieces and nephews) singing the jingle.
Cole made extensive use of electronic media for campaigning, and refused to use posters, flyers or painted signs as part of his campaign propaganda, since he felt like such use would make his city dirty. Instead, he focused on neighborhood-specific community "rallies" and meetings, loudspeaker vehicles, television, radio and media outlets.
On the other hand, Cole's political organization in Mayagüez was perceived by many to be the strongest of any mayoral candidate in Puerto Rico. Some of his ward leaders claim (to this day) to know the political affiliation of every one of their neighbors, a tactic that could allow scientific targeting of voters by background.
Read more about this topic: Benjamin Cole (mayor)
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