Sure, I’m way too emotionally involved this election season. But I consider the time and the hand-wringing an investment in my professional tool set, because this year’s presidential campaigns are studies in marketing, and very cynical marketing at that.

Which gets me thinking… how on earth can a communicator be believable when she has something “for sale”?

Personally, I look at everything the candidates and their cohorts do through a glass darkly. Picking Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice Presidential nominee? Don’t get me started about how cynical THAT was – and I so hope the women of America don’t vote for her just because she has XX chromosomes. Obama’s growing sympathy for the gun-totin’, God fearin’ working class? (Didn’t he say something about them clinging bitterly to something? Guess hangin’ around a few town halls in Pennsylvania wised him up…) Even the small stuff: Cindy McCain holding Sarah Palin’s new baby on TV? Awww… but I notice she REALLY doesn’t want that kid to barf on her dress. The cynic in me sees only a photo opp, not brilliantly handled.

Trying to learn from the mistakes of political campaigns… okay, so what about marketing products and services? The same problems can arise – it’s tough getting a cynical audience to believe anything professional PR people and other communicators say – even when it’s absolutely true.

Letting the truth be the point. That will help. The truth looks true. It sounds true. Maybe it’s funny, eye-catching or new. The truth doesn’t shift message just to be expedient. It doesn’t underestimate the intelligence of its audience. It doesn’t pull a bait-and-switch.

When you can’t say something good and true about the product or service you’re selling? No kidding – as a marketer, you should just say no. Save yourself for something worth talking about.

Integrity, over the long term, equals believability. I think it shines through – and that’s where my own cynicism ends.

Yikes! Last night, listening to Sarah Palin’s national debut, then the pundits’ unabashed adulation, I felt … so alone. Was I the only person in America who was horrified by her mean-spirited, small-minded speech?

Prime example: Palin mocks Obama for advocating that suspected terrorists, when arrested, be read their rights. And the audience agreed! Big time! Loud boos and vehement nodding of their Uncle Sam top hats made it clear that Ben Franklin’s statement, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety” is passe. Ouch.

I’m a marketer and a PR professional, so I should be able to understand how the masses think. Why then, as I heard Palin promoting her “hockey Mom” credentials and direly warning the crowd that this is a “world of threats and dangers” best managed by a man who has been tortured, rather than one who hasn’t – why was I so worried that I alone, really alone, think Palin is a horror show?

In the light of today, I’ve encountered more enlightened individuals, none of them toting rifles or wearing the American flag as a costume, who weren’t enthralled by the new candidate. And for that, I am truly grateful.