To my surprise, last night I received a personal phone call from city council member Ken Svoboda. You can listen to the message below.

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Why was I suprised? Just yesterday I had posted a link to http://www.thetruthaboutken.com on facebook, after I saw an ad on facebook with Ken’s face bopping around like a bobble-head. I clicked on the link and found myself on a very spammy-looking website devoted to all things anti-Ken. But these weren’t political things–they were all very personal. It looked like someone pulled his credit report and posted it line-by-line with commentary and nasty remarks.

So I posted the link on facebook, remarking that “…this is downright dirty politics. Way to go Nebraska Democratic Party.” However, my remarks did not show up on bradpc.com, as the feed only displayed the link. Now I’m assuming someone from the Svoboda camp received a google alert, because only 6 hours later I had a voicemail from Ken on my phone.

This shows some real dedication on Svoboda’s part to be not only monitoring internet buzz surrounding his campaign, but to personally take action and addressing the comments. I do have one suggestion, however. Although a phone call is official and authentic, also taking the time to reply online by leaving a comment, sending an E-mail or creating a website responding to the attacks would probably accomplish more in the long-run. By using the same media outlet, those who find negative information about Svoboda online would have a fair opportunity to hear the other side to the story.

I agree that a person’s character should be a sizable factor when choosing a candidate, but for a small-town, city council election, this kind of negative campaigning is over-the-top. If nothing else, it signals that Lincoln is becoming less of a wholesome Midwestern city, and becoming more like everywhere else.

Circuit City reported slow sales in Q3. According to the stock report by Barron’s:

• Domestic sales were down 3.6%, and 5.8% on a comp stores basis.
• In video, the company suffered a high-single-digit comp stores drop, as strength in flat-panel TVs was more than offset by weakness in projection and tube TVs. Camcorders and DVD hardware were down double digits.
• Notebook PCs were up double digits. Desktops declined double digits.
• GPS devices were up triple digits.
• Portable digital audio, home audio, mobile and digital satellite radio products were down double digits.
• Video gaming was up strong double-digits. Video software and music software were down double digits.
• Domestic extended warranty sales were $67.4 million, down from $103.3 million.

People are buying a whole lot more notebooks, which my friends on the retail side have noticed over the past year. Also it looks like Circuit City is having trouble selling those extended warranties. But didn’t they just start promoting Firedog as part of those warranties? Maybe their surge in marketing Firedog hasn’t really helped sales.

In fact, the CEO even thinks they have problems.

In its announcement, CC CEO Philip Schoonover said management is “very dissatisfied” with the results,” and said the company “underestimated the financial impact from the disruption of our transformation work, which contributed to lower close rates, reduced attachments of higher margin accessories and Firedog services and lower extended warranty net sales as compared with the prior year.” He says the company’s troubles are “self-induced and within our control to improve.”

What do you think about Firedog’s Warranty offerings? Have you used Firedog’s computer or home theater services? If you have, leave a comment about your experience.