It started innocently. A McCain sign and an Obama sign. Two neighbors exercising their right of free speech. About as wholesome and American as you can get.

All it took was one of them to add a second sign. I don't know who pulled that trigger first, but after that there was no turning back. Each added more signs.

Somewhere in the last week or so, the McCain supporter upped the ante by replacing a couple of small signs with one big one. The Obama supported stuck to smaller signs, but multiplied them.

Here's how it looks today:

If it gets more interesting before election day, I'll post updates.

Update: 17 October

Well, that didn't take long. While there has been no change in those two yards, there has been a development. A new front has opened on the other side of the McCain house. He (or she) is now flanked on both sides by Obama signs. (Sorry for the crappy picture stitching… the battlefield was too wide for a single shot.)

Perhaps this will incite a further display of GOP power. We'll see. I'll keep you posted.

Update: 18 October

More signs! Emboldened by their successful flanking maneuver, the Obama supporters have pressed their advantage to attempt to overwhelm the McCainiac!

I wonder what tomorrow will bring. At this point, despite my strong support for Obama, I am really hoping for some sort of response from the McCain supporter. I mean, he can't just cave like some feeble old ma–

Oh.

Update: 19 October

No real escalation to report today, although the Obama house on the right has added a festive orange sign to their arsenal:

Now, at this point I am not sure what else the Obama folks can do other than add colors. They simply don't have much more yard to arm. On the other hand, the McCain house has plenty of headroom for expansion. I just hope the Obama folks don't get complacent. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Update: 20 October

Nothing new to report today, except another orange sign, this time on the left. No picture as my camera was at home. So, in lieu of new exciting pictures, I decided to see if I could find out about these sign warriors. Using their house numbers, the Allegheny County Assessments site, and our old friend Mr. Google, I found out some fun stuff.

The original Obama house is owned by James and Deborah Bogen. They retired to Pittsburgh in 2000. They gave $576 to the Howard Dean campaign in 2004. Deborah is a poet with a collection out called Landscape With Silos. James seems to not quite understand the notion of retirement, as he is now an Adjunct Professor in the Department of History at the University of Pittsburgh.

On the other end of our little sign squable, we have Susanne Gaetano. For over 25 years, Susanne has owned a local boutique called Panache, which "features clothing with vibrant colors, ethnic patterns and natural fabrics." Her son Lonnie was one of "America's Sexiest Bachelors" back in 2000 (right when the Bogens were moving in down the street).

So, who is in the middle? Who is the McCain supporter surrounded so thoroughly? It is Eric and Camille Lurie. They only moved into the neighborhood in early 2007, but otherwise I could not find much about them online. Not much, but there was one thing. In July, there was a big gala event called Black Ties and Tailpipes as part of Pittsburgh's annual Vintage Grand Prix. Camille was there and was in fact the Auction Chair. Fine, it's a non-profit thing. Not particularly interesting. But wait! Another mention of the event has a fun tidbit about Eric. You have to scroll down about 75% of the way, but there is a picture of the happy couple in which Eric is identified as a solicitor for the Republican Committee of Pittsburgh! Man, I hope his colleagues on the committee don't stop by his house for anything. It might be a little embarrassing.

Update: 21 October

I'll lead off with a new picture today to stir things up a little:

What's that? There are fewer signs on the left? Yep, a lot fewer, but before you jump to any conclusions, there is an explanation and it is a good one. This morning (while my camera was at home), I saw a note taped to one of the front-most signs. Being the nosy nebby curious and journalistically responsible person I am, I gave the note a looksee. It read: "Take a sign!" So, it seems the Bogens are not just satisfied with yard sign supremacy in their own theater of operation; they want to export it to other yards as well! Good for them; share the wealth!

Some folks have commented that the neighbors across the street should get involved. Never one to disappoint my readers, here is a picture of the house directly across from the duplex that started it all:

Three signs may not be fifteen, but it still leaves the poor McCain folks a bit more boxed in. And, as a final reminder that Obama is likely to take Pennsylvania, here is the car parked in front of the duplex (presumable belonging to the Bogens, but I can in no way verify that):

I guess Mr. and Mrs. Lurie are but a tiny bastion of real America surrounded on all sides by those of us in, well, unreal America.

Update: 23 October

No update yesterday and not much of one today:

As you can see, the McCain supporters have added a sign supporting PA attorney general Tom Corbett for re-election. Meanwhile (not shown), the democrats sign numbers has been pruned further as they have given away more signs.

This is exactly what the republicans want and what I fear will happen. We get complacent, the republicans continue to build, and we get whammied on election day. Yes, I have been just writing lighthearted nonsense for the last week about yard signs, of all things, but this election is a real issue. Don't let the election go the way of this yard sign fight!

Anyway, back to lighthearted fun. These folks seem to be losing heart for a protracted encounter, which leaves me little choice. I must help to fan the flames!

Please feel free to send any unwanted democratic yard signs to:

The Bogens
1112 N. Highland Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15206

or

Susanne Gaetano
1108 N. Highland Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15206

Please feel free to send any unwanted republican yard signs to:

The Luries
1110 N. Highland Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15206

Be sure to let them know that you are supporting their struggle against their politically-opposed neighbors. No need to mention how you found about their situation. I am but a humble yard-sign-warmoner trouble-maker blogger.

Update: 05 November 2008

The day after the election and things are quiet. Not much change on the sign front. I suspect the Luries will quietly remove their McCain signs soon, although they apparently had a "Thank You, President Bush" sign before all this, so who knows?

I got some email today from someone at GigaPan who had made a high resolution panoramic picture of the sign houses on election day:

It definitely looks way better than my quick-and-dirty work with the GIMP.

I doubt there will be any more updates to this, as the election is over. So, thank you for reading and I hope you've enjoyed this. See you at the next election!