A Candidate's Diary

Dec. 1, 2001

This past year I got involved with the Republican Party here in Alachua County (FL) after this past debacle of an election. For the first time, I started paying attention to local issues, and it was just in time. Our 5 Democratic county commissioners never met a tax they didn't like, they think they represent tweety birds instead of people, and they are pretty well known as an anti-business government by the services that rate localities for that sort of thing.

I started pounding the table at our local Republican Committee meetings, saying that we needed to start now to raise up candidates to run against the two commissioners who would be running in 2002. Response was lukewarm because they are so used to losing in this University town. After ranting about it for a couple months, they put me in charge of the committee to seek interested potential candidates. Only got one nibble. I said I would run against them myself if I lived in one of the two districts. Within a month of saying this, a redistricting occurred, and now my precinct is in one of the districts. Time to put up or shut up.

I cannot approach the Supervisor of Elections here until January of the election year, so right now I am laying the ground work: get a campaign treasurer, a campaign manager to make appointments for me to speak in front of groups, plan on renting a booth on the weekend at a local flea market to meet people and get them to believe in me.

On the downside of this race, my opponent is a competent professional person who has a long history as an environmental activist, and he's likeable. I, on the other hand, am a self-employed window cleaner who works in shorts and a t-shirt every day.

On the upside, most of the people in this county are seriously pissed off at the County Commission because they are environmentalist extremists. They have sprung a lot of stuff on people without letting them know up front what the cost of their vision would be. I, on the other hand, have a handle on the idea that representative government is about representing the interests of the people in your county. In order to do that effectively, it helps to be "one of them". It also doesn't hurt that I am a pretty entertaining speaker.

I am expecting a serious dogfight next November, but I know that if I am to have a prayer, I must start working ASAP. People are already won over to the idea that my opponent is out of touch with them. They still must feel that I am in touch with them. To do that, I will have to make a lot of appearances.

DM

December 10, 2001

I went down to the Supervisor of Elections office to get what information I needed. To their credit, they didn't wince at my post-workday appearance of sweaty t-shirt and denim shorts. What I got was a fat packet of forms that will come in handy, a copy of the Florida statutes that pertain to elections and campaign finance, and a "Dummies" version of the aforementioned statutes. The forms were surprisingly simple, and the regs were no surprise in their stilted legal language and complexity.

After taking a few days to examine and digest what was in the packet, I have learned that the first thing I must do is appoint a campaign treasurer and select a bank to put the contributions. Then I have to make darn sure I don't miss the January 10 filing date, even if it's just to say that there has been no activity in the account. I get fined $50 for every day that it's late for the first 3 days, and $500 for every day thereafter. And that money is not allowed to come out of the contributions; it comes directly out of the candidate's pocket.

I have already been in contact with leaders from the College Republicans and the Young Republicans, and they are willing to help. I believe I will need to have an initial meeting with as many of them as I can get so that I can sell them on my ability as a candidate. After all, these are the people who will be getting me speaking engagements at local organizations. These are the engagements where I will be defining my candidacy and winning converts and encouraging people to make donations. Before I spend a dime on advertising, I want to know what resonates most effectively with the voters. This is not simply finding out what people want to hear, but finding out what the objections are to my positions early, and dealing with them.

DM

Republicanezines.com