Jones uses 'Ben Franklin close' in latest mailer in race for State Senate against Ashby

Anyone who has ever had minimal sales training has probably learned about the Ben Franklin close. Named after the inventor and founding father, the pitch person offers a list of pros and cons, and if it goes as planned, the pros outweigh the cons, and the prospect becomes the customer. 

In his latest mailer, Dave Jones used the Ben Franklin approach in the primary race against Angelique Ashby for the 8th District California State Senate seat. Although there are three candidates for the seat, all Democrats, Ashby, and Jones, are likely to advance from the primary and slug it out until the November general election.  

In this mailer which we'll call "helping people," Jones lists six issues, the pro side of the sales pitch, saying he cares for people. On the cons side, he lists six items claiming Ashby "cares about Corporate Lobbyist."

On the address label page, Jones continues the Ben Franklin pitch displaying six groups and categories of people supporting his campaign, and it lists one supporter for Ashby, big oil. 

Interestingly, Jones has attempted to turn the tables or neutralize the multi-faceted attacks his campaign has experienced from the independent expenditure group Californians for Jobs and a Strong Economy. That group has conducted an extensive campaign against Jones, which portrays him as a bobblehead character without mentioning Ashby. 

Jones has referenced those attacks repeatedly in his mailers. This mailer concludes by saying, "Big Oil companies including Chevron and Valero, are spending hundreds of thousand to attack Dave Jones because they want to elect their corporate candidate, Angelique Ashby."

A subtle hint is also applied to Ashby in this mailer - the color red, which is associated with Republicans. Red is used in the two banners with negative characteristics Jones has associated with Ashby whiles Jones uses blue in his descriptions. 

Tomorrow we'll look at one of Ashby's recent mailers where she promotes endorsement from the current and former mayors of Elk Grove.   

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