Joyce, James "Jim", 1937-1993

Between 1973 and his death in 1993, Jim Joyce managed campaigns for some 300 candidates, and lost only about 10 percent of them. Having helped elect so many legislators, it is not surprising he was the most effective lobbyist ever seen in the state Capitol. Victorious politicians and fallen rivals thought him a genius. He was certainly imaginative. Which brings us to those garbage cans.

On Election Day, all concerned want to know how voters are leaning. The usual method is to conduct an "exit poll," asking people how they voted. This is expensive. In "The Gentle Giant," Marilee Joyce's literary tribute to her father, former congressman and client James Bilbray explained how Jim Joyce made exit polls affordable.

"Jim had a crew of hearty volunteers make the rounds of key districts, emptying the trash cans outside the polling places," Bilbray wrote. "Jim theorized that many voters make their ballot decisions at home, marking their choices on their sample ballots and taking those ballots with them to the polls to vote. Once those ballots have been cast, the sample ballot goes in the first trash can they see.

"It became known as The Jim Joyce Garbage Can Poll."

Copied fromhttp://www.reviewjournal.com/news/jim-joyce