By Kim Schneider
(Everywhere), Pa.—When building name recognition is key to besting a long-time incumbent, it’s not a bad idea to roll through the highways of the state with your three letter name written in giant letters, next to your smiling image stretching 10 feet or so high.
Even better: put a picture of your English golden retriever on the side of the bus, too, and send the loveable pup out first to greet the cheering throngs.
Rep. Lou Barletta, a candidate for Senate in the state of Pennsylvania, is just one of many candidates taking to the highways in the quintessential campaign bus. In his case, he’s someone who knows highways well as a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and the bus is a restored 1993 Prevost with a Marathon conversion leased from UMA member Krapf Coaches Inc. of West Chester, Pa. The swiveling leather seats around a table are perfect for campaign strategy sessions and on-board dinners. And all the gear—the campaign signs, folding chairs and Reilly treats—are easily stored on board or below.
But while it’s been great to be able to work from the road, Rep. Barletta said, he couldn’t have anticipated the excited reaction of the public as he rolls through towns across the state.
“People everywhere we go want pictures with me and themselves in front of the bus and by the side of the bus,” he said. “It’s been really a big help to the campaign. It’s not unusual as we’re traveling around Pennsylvania that when people pass the bus, they honk the horn and wave. It’s a traveling billboard!”
Barletta currently represents Pennsylvania’s 11th District in the U.S. House of Representatives and prior to that was a mayor and owner of a road pavement marking business. Issues related to the roadways have remained at the forefront of his legislative initiatives, which include pushes for road and bridge improvement and law tweaks that don’t hold an accident against a motorcoach company’s safety scores if someone else was at fault.
Though he knows the bus industry well, Barletta says he’s never before taken to the highways in a bus of his own. That, he said, made him a “bigger fan than I was before.”
He’s also become a fan of a method of campaigning many say was pioneered by Franklin Roosevelt, inventor of the whistle stop campaign. Roosevelt worked and slept on board U.S. Car No. 1 and gave speeches from the train platform. The rolling campaign eventually moved to the highways. George W. Bush famously toured with his cabinet secretaries in a 2003 Jobs and Growth tour; his luxury coach with a mirrored ceiling was next used by the band Aerosmith. Some bus names were particularly catchy. John McCain called his the “Straight Talk Express” and made it key to his strategy in two campaigns.
But the revolution in bus wrapping technology—the ability to basically cover a bus in a single graphic decal—brought extra excitement to campaign buses like the especially colorful one that Sarah Palin wrapped with a flying eagle and the Liberty Bell.
Barletta opted for a color scheme befitting his “Red, White and Lou” tour theme and images that focused on his name—key to raising his statewide profile. But when you have a campaigning partner who was in 2015 named “Cutest Dog on Capitol Hill,” you might naturally want to include that image as well. His tour is even including stops at natural pet treat manufacturers and animal shelters—a natural because the Congressman also has been a staunch supporter of animal welfare legislation.
Though he hasn’t yet picked a name for his campaign bus, odds just may be on “Reilly.”
“I didn’t know this about him, but he’s a great campaigner and a secret weapon,” Barletta said. “He’s always been an unpaid staffer for me. He comes to my office in Washington with me every day. He takes a few biscuits and treats, and he’s happy.”
