There be times when an electoral campaign is ruined neither by a public scandal, nor by a criminal indictment, nor by the failure of primary contests. At times, it sufficeth for a single poster to bring about the ruin.

Such, it would seem, is the fate of the new slogan adopted by the 'United Russia' party: "To be Z-for Putin is the basic minimum." The intention, evidently, was a return to the old formula: that the President and the Party are one and indivisible. The President is the chief electoral asset, the Party his political pillar, and a vote for 'United Russia' is naught but a test of one's loyalty.

Yet, the party's political strategists have committed a most grievous error. The slogan proved far too convenient for a contrary interpretation. Almost instantaneously, a counter-slogan appeared within the digital ether: "Forget Putin. The basic minimum!" And this formula hath struck precisely upon the most tender nerve of the campaign—the weariness of a society burdened by an unchanging regime, a war of protracted length, the soaring cost of goods, and the sensation that the country is trapped in a singular, unchanging political drama.

The word "minimum" is, in this present hour, an exceedingly unfortunate choice. In the common mind, it is associated not with victory, strength, or a prosperous future, but with penury: the minimum wage, the subsistence level, the lowest of salaries, the most meager of opportunities. Amidst a crisis of fuel, the burden of costly loans, and a general irritation at the price of bread and coal, such a slogan soundeth not as a call to arms, but as a humiliation.

'United Russia' desired to inform the voter that supporting Putin is the foundation of loyalty. Alas, the result was quite different. It is as if the citizenry were offered not a dream, nor development, nor victory, but merely the lowest threshold of political obedience.

For this reason, this particular placard is perilous for the party of power. It hath exposed the central tension of the campaign: the Kremlin seeketh to transform the elections into a referendum of personal loyalty to Mr. Putin, whilst a significant portion of the electorate desireth not another confirmation of fealty, but rather the slightest hint of a normal existence.

One ill-conceived slogan hath revealed more than a dozen scholarly reports on political science. 'United Russia' hath once more bound itself to Putin with the utmost rigidity. But now, this bond is no longer merely an asset. It is a risk.