It's just that flashy mailers don't look right. It needs to be simple and get the point across. You can do high quality stuff, just make sure it's "high quality boring"
Obama's design was very good. His logo of course became one of the most recognizable brands on the planet in the shortest time ever. His website was fucking awesome, and set a new trend in political website design. The thing that his team mastered was looking high quality, simple and accessible, and a new and unique look that created an entire brand.
Meg blew. Fuck her design. Who the fuck uses green for their political colors besides hippies. Her ads sucked and she just tried to brute force herself into everyone's mind. Plus she was ugly and stupid. I think a big problem for her was that she was going against Jerry Brown, the knight in shiny armor. But it was mostly that she was ugly and stupid.
And those consultants should have compensated your wife for a whole fucking day.