|
So like many, I'm pretty fed up with "status quo politics". I decided I wanted to stop taking a sideline view and actually try to be a participant. So this year I'm going to be running for my district's State Rep, against the epitome of career politicians. I decided to go with State Rep due to it being small enough where my community attachment is meaningful, but big enough to make to actually achieve some results. Now that I'm done sounding hyper ideological.... I've never been involved in politics before at all. I do have my MS in law and public policy so I've spent a considerable amount of time studying the legislative stuff, and beyond. I'm a mid 30s white guy, that's spent the past 15 years working a blue collar job (as a public servant). It looks like I'm going to have another career politician party flopper (changed party affiliation simply to run against the incumbent in the general election)as a primary opponent. I've already had people tell me that I don't have any chance, but it will be a good learning experience. I've had people tell me I can't actually talk to people when I'm going door to door. From not until November I'm going to completely hate my life and decision to do this. And the list goes on and on. Obviously despite all that, I'm going forward with it. I already have my paperwork ready to go, got a comfortable pair of ground pounding shoes, and I'm ready to go out and get my 300 signatures. So has anyone else done anything like this? I totally understand that not everyone is going to agree with me, or what I have to say. I'm OK with that though. In general I think I'm pretty good with people ( I work with the general public), and many of which seem to at least express the same attitude towards our current politicians. Any advice and/or suggestions would definitely be helpful!
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2016 03:48
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 17, 2024 00:56 |
|
|
i've never done it. i've had friends who worked on campaigns, including ones who became parts of high-profile campaigns, but i've never known an actual candidate personally. i hope you keep us updated on your experiences, i'll be interested to hear anything you want to share about the process and your personal opinions about it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2016 04:15
|
|
|
Paging the goon who got elected to City Council (?) on a moderately ridiculous and extremely low-effort Facebook campaign. State rep is probably still a pretty darn tough run, especially if you don't have any relationship with your Insert Party Here state or local organization(s).
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2016 05:42
|
|
|
I campaigned for John Edwards in New Hampshire. (That was in 2007 far before the news broke). Make sure your campaign staff isn't afraid of dogs, because everyone in New Hampshire owns at least five dogs.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2016 05:58
|
|
|
Depending on how big the city, it might be similar population wise. It's probably more geographically spread out, but probably 100-125k people I'd estimate. In the past 2 presidential elections it looks like there was roughly 20k votes, and around 12-14k in the mid term elections. I'm not really involved in local politics, but that might actually be a good thing considering I don't have any of the associated baggage. I do work with a guy that's on one of the local committees, so he's been talking to me about it. Some of the stuff is definitely good advice I think ,but other parts not so much. He's actually the one that said I can't actually talk to people he basically said "it's a numbers game rattle off some of your stances, hand them a paper and on to the next one". I certainly get where he's coming from, I just kind of feel like I'm not going to appeal to a very wide audience talking at people.. One of the girls I went to grad school with spent about a year working for the DNC. We're going to meet up soon and she's going to share some of what she learned working for them.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2016 22:06
|
|
|
Just so you're aware, your opponent likely has a list of all the voters in the district, including everyone who voted for them, and possibly additional information about their issues/donations/stances/whatever. Your opponent likely has a mixed group of staffers and volunteers who will be contacting all of these people. You will need to somehow contact more people and be more persuasive. Good luck!
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2016 22:48
|
|
|
Your county or state party organization will have some resources to help you out with. If they don't want you to run because you are trying to unseat an incumbent, too bad. They probably still have to share their voter database with you if you pay a reasonable fee. I dunno, maybe not. Pick three issues you want to talk about forever and write a 2-4 sentence position statement on them. Pick three bills that your state rep guy voted on that you would have voted the other way on and write 2-4 sentences why. Make a big list of people you are going to ask for money. This includes everyone you went to high school with, worked with, every one of your parents' friends, every body at church. Put their names in a big database along with their phone numbers. It also includes everyone who hates your incumbent for whatever reason. Figure out a reasonable amount of money that they might cough up and put that down in the next column. Some of them might be irritated that you called. Some of them might be irritated if you didn't. If you are taking this poo poo seriously, you will power through it and they will take you seriously. Your fund-raising call goes like this: >Hey, NAME, it's me, GOON from WHATEVER. How are THINGS THEY DO going? >That's great. So, listen, I'm calling because I'm running for STATE REP, and we're trying to put together some funds to BUY YARD SIGNS TO GET MY NAME OUT or PRINT MAILERS TO CONTACT VOTERS. >Do you think you can help me out with MONEY AMOUNT? Then you shut up. If they turn you down, you say this: >Well, would you be able to donate HALF OF MONEY AMOUNT? Then you shut up again. If they turn you down again, say this: >OK, I understand. I figured it was worth a shot, I'm looking for all the support I can get. It was good to talk to you! Hey, if you want to check out my campaign, you can find us at WEBSITE. Talk to you later! If they say yes, you tell them how they can get the money to you and make a note that they promised you some money. If you're not hearing 'no' a lot, you should get out of your comfort zone. If you get any money, you go to the party and tell them that you're a viable candidate because you can raise some cash. Talk to the county party people a lot and try to make friends with their stupid, gossipy asses. Put signs in your supporters' front windows. Mailers are better than signs, which are better than bumper stickers. Figure out places to introduce yourself to crowds: KKK rallies, gay pride parades, anybody you can throw positive vibes at. Ask for help at every turn.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2016 01:12
|
|
|
Tujague posted:Your county or state party organization will have some resources to help you out with. If they don't want you to run because you are trying to unseat an incumbent, too bad. They probably still have to share their voter database with you if you pay a reasonable fee. I dunno, maybe not. Pick three issues you want to talk about forever and write a 2-4 sentence position statement on them. Pick three bills that your state rep guy voted on that you would have voted the other way on and write 2-4 sentences why. Yup, this is the right advice. Also Vox Nihili posted:Just so you're aware, your opponent likely has a list of all the voters in the district, including everyone who voted for them, and possibly additional information about their issues/donations/stances/whatever. Your opponent likely has a mixed group of staffers and volunteers who will be contacting all of these people. This is called the VAN (Voter activation network). Figure out who you need to blow in your local party to get access. When you get it, break it up up into sections, print out the maps of those sections, tape them to clipboards and start knocking on doors. Get yourself some volunteers/family/friends to canvass for you and use that same VAN data to organize phone banks to call your potential supporters. While you're walking around knocking on doors, carry some literature about yourself to give them. Make friends with other politicians that are running for other offices and share resources, aka smooze. If you go to their stupid little events, maybe they'll come to your stupid little events.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2016 02:00
|
|
|
UrielX posted:Any advice and/or suggestions would definitely be helpful! I've worked primarily as a volunteer and a lot of door-to-door and calls. Two critical aspects will be data and time. When you go door-to-door, don't go to every house, go to houses you know might vote/support you.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2016 04:18
|
|
|
I should have my voter list this week. I figured since I'm just going for the primary nomination I want to keep things as simple as possible. If I can can come up with the number of signatures I can go and actually do some campaigning. As of right now I don't have anything printed, to hand out while I'm trying to get my signatures. I'll check out prices this week when I go and get my petition stuff printed. The guy that work that's helping me out had attempted to run for office some years ago. The incumbent actually had family members of the same party legally challenge his petition and get it thrown out. I'm going to try to get as many signatures as possible, so that this is less of an issue. He basically said signatures get disqualified if a husband fills out the address line for the wife, etc. So he came up just short. Considering I'm a political unknown, and there's another politician running for the primary seat; hopefully they'll challenge her instead of me. BUT he also has some kind of proprietary software for tablets that basically has all of the voters in the list, along with their voting activity for the past 10 years. He's trying to get them to allow me to use that. He did show me at work the other day, and it definitely looks like it would really help. It has their affiliation, but also which votes they attended (primary and general elections). So I would really be able to target active voters rather than just registered voters. I only have exactly 3 weeks to get all of my requisite signatures, and get them filed. I'll have my voter list by Tuesday, and I'll be able to start collecting signatures the following Tuesday. I work 2, 24 hour shifts as a paramedic so that gives me a great schedule for getting out and about, especially since most active voters here are seniors.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2016 08:58
|
|
|
Is there any chance you can get a small cadre of relatively committed volunteers out there? I was on a team of three people (including the candidate) that won a city council election basically just by canvassing the entire ward over the course of a month or two. Even if it's just a couple friends/relatives - that's the kind of thing that can make a huge difference in a small campaign. If you know enough people who are willing to pitch in a few hours every know and then, it can add up, as well. Also, I'm Canadian - does anyone here know what the closest thing in Canada would be to a State Rep? I'm assuming MPP/MLA or something like that.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2016 14:23
|
|
|
UrielX posted:So like many, I'm pretty fed up with "status quo politics". I decided I wanted to stop taking a sideline view and actually try to be a participant. So this year I'm going to be running for my district's State Rep, against the epitome of career politicians. I decided to go with State Rep due to it being small enough where my community attachment is meaningful, but big enough to make to actually achieve some results. Now that I'm done sounding hyper ideological.... How much money ya got? How much ya willing to put into the race? How much can you raise from friends and family for your campaign? Going rate for a signature is ~$1. You'll want at least three times the required amount to ensure ballot access. Is $1k too much a hurdle for you to enter the race? Because campaigns cost money. If you can only raise less than 50k, then you don't have much chance. A politician's first and foremost job is raising money, raising money, and raising some more money. Maybe it would be better to run for municipal government first as a stepping-stone to running for state rep? That way you could vote for stuff that makes people money and be able to go back to them in a few years to have them return the favor with a bit of interest.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2016 16:09
|
|
|
I've volunteered, worked as staff on a couple state house races, and even as a campaign manager for a state rep race. Here's some general tips I've learned over the years, sometimes the hard way. First thing you want to do is sit down and write out a plan for your campaign. Figure out what how many doors you are going to hit (100 a day is a good target), how much mail you plan to send out (targeted or postal patron), etc. Once you know what you will be spending money on, you can check the prices and create a budget so you know how much you need to raise. For a 100k population district, you'll probably need at least $30k just to have a realistic chance to compete. Create a timeline for the campaign, with reasonable benchmarks for money raised and doors knocked, dates for fundraisers, and when each mail piece will go out. Figure out what your message will be, both about yourself and about your opponent. Try to also think of what your opponent will say about himself and about you. Best way to start that is make an honest list of your strengths and weaknesses, and do the same for your opponent. Make sure you can answer the question "Why are you running?" in one sentence. Make sure your answer is about something positive you are going to do, for the district or just in general Be very careful when talking to the press. In a down ballot race, you only will get a few mentions in the paper, and maybe one in depth article. You could have a nice 10 minute conversation with a reporter, and then she could use a single sentence out of context and make you look crazy or out of touch. Make sure you actually join the local county party, it's not the same as the state party. At least in my state, county parties require dues, so if it's the same where you are, make sure to sign up and pay the $20 or so.Most people won't care, but the party activists will, and you want them on your side, or at least not actively hostile.This also avoids the awkward question of "Why are you running for the party nomination when you're not even a member of the party?" Make a list of friends and supporters you can count on, and figure out what role each of them will have. Make sure they know what you need from them and get them to commit to doing it. Don't actually expect everyone to follow through, some will, some won't. Lots of people will have an opinion on how you should be running your campaign, and generally they will tell you that you're doing something wrong. Just remember, it's your campaign, and it's your name out there, not theirs. When you're at the doors, most people will have no idea who you are and will mostly just listen politely. Some are one issue voters and will have a question about your stance on their issue, but otherwise you won't really be having conversations with people. That changes a few weeks before the election when people start paying attention and might have gotten a mailer from you, but otherwise don't expect to have policy discussions with voters. Just make sure to smile and be positive, especially when someone is angry and slams the door in your face. Learn the election rules and campaign finance rules, and make sure never to violate them. You don't want to see a news story about how you were late filing a report or forgot to include a "paid for by" line on a lit piece. It makes it look like you were hiding something, and people are disinclined to give candidates the benefit of the doubt. When looking for nomination signatures, if they are hesitant to sign it, the line I like to use is"This doesn't mean you have to vote for "Joe Smith," it just means you'll have another choice on the ballot on election day." Many people think its fair to give someone a chance to be on the ballot, and once they know they don't have to commit to anything they are much more likely to sign. I could go on, but that's what I could think of off the top of my head. I did see that you're not going out to collect signatures yet though, why not? You don't need a list for that, just walk around your neighborhood and knock on every door. Signatures aren't votes, so don't treat them that way.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2016 18:40
|
|
|
OP how big is the town/city you live in? Local elections have very different dynamics in smaller communities versus larger communities. I've worked with a whole bunch of smaller campaigns in the state rep/mayoral/city council sort of level in a town of 60k and can advise in that regard, but if you're in a major metro the entire thing changes. Getting a voter list is a good first step.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2016 19:54
|
|
|
Super, Thanks! That's awesome, and I really appreciate it! One of the reasons I'm not getting signatures yet, is because next Tuesday is the first day candidates are allowed to get primary petition signatures. Also for me to get on the primary ballot I need to solicit party voters for their nomination (so only their signatures are valid). I was actually wrong about my numbers, I vastly overestimated my original guess. I did some census research this morning and I was counting the population of a school district, as a single city. So in reality the population is more around the 50-60k mark. It's a pretty condensed window that I have to get on the primary ballot. 300 (I want as many as I can ) signatures, and filed within 3 weeks. I'm in a suburb of Pittsburgh. It's actually a smaller area, and I'm finding out a lot of people I went to high school, or people I've worked with all live in my district.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2016 21:25
|
|
|
Do you serve on any boards, belong to any clubs, attend any services? Just because you're supposed to collect signatures after a certain date don't mean you gotta if you collect them from places you belong.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2016 21:32
|
|
|
My Imaginary GF posted:Just because you're supposed to collect signatures after a certain date don't mean you gotta I can't figure out what this means but if "supposed to" means "according to the election code" then it does "mean you gotta" and you should do what it says
|
|
#
?
Jan 19, 2016 18:09
|
|
|
UrielX posted:
I didn't realize you were in a closed primary state, they are a bit different. In my state, any elector can sign, we only need 200 signatures, and we have 6 weeks to get them. 60k is a much better population number. I'd shoot for doing 15k doors by November, when you cover the whole district once, then you start doing it a second time. Looks like your primary election is in April, which seems really early compared to what I'm used to. No way you'll be able to hit all the doors by then, but do what you can and prioritize the areas that have the best turnout. You'll need to do a mailer, if the other candidate is serious you can be sure they'll send one out. If you only send one make it something that introduces you to the electors. If you can afford a second one, then you can talk about issues or something. I wouldn't even mention your primary opponent, in a low turnout election name recognition is important, so no sense giving them free exposure. I worked on a primary campaign once when the other guy put out a compare/contrast piece with my candidate and the incumbent from the other party. He was trying to say my guy was worse than the guy from the other party, but nobody even looked at the text. My candidate was getting compliments about how nice the piece looked when he knocked on the doors. All they saw was his picture, and the incumbent that wasn't running, and thought my candidate put the piece out.
|
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2016 02:23
|
|
|
GreyjoyBastard posted:Paging the goon who got elected to City Council (?) on a moderately ridiculous and extremely low-effort Facebook campaign. I got elected to the Board of the Housing Authority. Basically, the following things happened. 1. Decent Mayor has really lovely tea partier supporters who treat everyone like poo poo in town. 2. Troll-like admin of local facebook group decides to run for city council, is kind of a dick to people...loses primary with 17 votes. 3. I decide I'm going to get more votes than him on a write in campaign using only the group he admins, by basically promising ridiculous things like Donald Trump AND semi-seriously campaigning on promises of making politics respectful again. 4. lovely tea party supporters blocked me on facebook and refused to speak to me in real life because of how much I called them out on their poo poo. 5. I got 33 votes for Housing Authority/
|
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2016 02:59
|
|
|
I worked for a state legislature and after seeing the poo poo that goes down, it's not worth it. Not even close. Although you have a chance if your district is small and you're well known or have some accolades within your community.
|
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2016 04:10
|
|
|
Idunno OP, while it's good experience and all, you could basically get all this experience for free and without taking years off your life with stress if you sat this election out and volunteered on someone else's campaign. If you volunteered through the whole cycle by the end of it you would know exactly what to do and know how to do it, you would have friends and acquaintances you could call on to help you canvas and phone bank for your own campaign and you would know all the local politicians. I like the enthusiasm, but I feel like you're going to burn yourself out and not try again if you do it this way. Also look into if any of your local party organizations do something like candidate training
|
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2016 06:47
|
|
|
Thanks guys for the continued input! To be quite honest I've never considered getting into politics, I would have rather worked on the other end (policy analysis). I tend to think the climate is now, for the inexperience I have to really shine though. People are, by and large, very dissatisfied with current politicians. By attaching myself to a current politician I do lose that "not one of them" aspect. The other candidate that will be my primary opponent is not really any different than the current incumbent. She's been involved in politics all of her adult life. As a person, I feel like I do my best when I'm someone overwhelmed. Burnout has never really been a "thing" for me, I finished my master's program in 3 semesters. I do have several experienced people backing me, and while I do find their experience to be valuable; I'm trying to take on a different direction as a candidate. Granted I do have some "political machinery" to overcome, but I think as someone that people can actually connect with is massively important. Both my primary, and general election opponents (should I make it that far) have far more name recognition then I do. I was already thinking I would focus on positive change, rather than trying to sling poo poo. Since I do have to appeal to my party base, the extent of smack talking I'd planned on doing was simply pointing out that my primary opponent clearly isn't part of the party. At the advice of posters ITT I've really concentrated on a few issues. I'm going to have small flyers that I hand out with my signature solicitation, paid for out of my own pocket. First and foremost is that my district is well below both the Pennsylvania and national per-capita, and median household incomes. Crime, drugs, and most other social problems IMO all have the root cause of a horribly lovely economy. When the incumbent of close to 15 years is only able to boast about the creation of 100 jobs, it's pathetic. We've had several examples of business (and rather large employers at that) closing up shop and moving elsewhere whenever their tax breaks expired. I think focusing on the local economy is the most important thing, and also what's concerning the most to the "average guy". Living paycheck to paycheck, worrying about what's going to happen to the house if you get sick, and what you would do if you lost your job; are all very real concerns here, and ones that I've lived through myself.
|
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2016 13:40
|
|
|
UrielX posted:Thanks guys for the continued input! You need to be much clearer and more basic with your issues. So your issues are poverty and the economy? Jobs? It's not entirely clear. When people say choose a couple issues they mean like education. So they can walk around and talk about education and what they want to do about education and how the current guys are loving up. So choose two broad issues. Say what you will about career politicians, but your outsider status isn't going to do you as much good as their name recognition. You need to start building a volunteer base. I know you don't wan't to associate with political folks, but sadly the majority of people who give a drat enough about politics to volunteer to help you are going to be people who go to their local LD party meetings, political events, college political parties and the like. You need to start going to these things and meeting these people.
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2016 08:39
|
|
|
Dr.Mrs.The Monarch posted:You need to be much clearer and more basic with your issues. So your issues are poverty and the economy? Jobs? It's not entirely clear. When people say choose a couple issues they mean like education. So they can walk around and talk about education and what they want to do about education and how the current guys are loving up. So choose two broad issues. No doubt! I was just stating number 1 ought to be the economy. So far I kind of have 3 phases in mind. I got my signature lists, and I've been plotting out where I'm going to solicit signatures. I have a flyer that I'm going to hand out with them too. Got some info from my classmate that worked for the DNC about how to setup my flyers/brochures etc. For this first one I'm gong with just my name, and the basic generalization of what I'm running on. No real campaign issues, more slogan. Once I collect enough signatures I'm going to hit the active party base again, but this time with how my primary opponent is not part of the party (DNC girl said really hit that issue). I'm going to start highlighting campaign issues here. As of this week I'm going to start collecting my signatures. I've already gone through and highlighted the 65+ crowd that's likely to be home during the day. So I'm going to hit people in retiree age during the day, and everyone younger in the evening. Once I get all that stuff done I think I should probably go set up a bank account and get started on web/social media.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2016 15:34
|
|
|
What issues are you actually planning to run on? So far you've mentioned that the incumbent is a career politician and you've raised some general concerns about economic insecurity and a lack of meaningful action by the local government. That's all well and good but it's a bit bare bones for an actual campaign. What specifically are you going to campaign on? What could you do better, or at least differently, than the incumbent. Is there a particular local issue that the incumbent might have taken an unpopular stance on? Is there some motivated group of people in your district whose views are being ignored? If someone asked you "why should I vote for you?" or "why did you decide to run?" then what would you say to them? Honestly that kind of seems like the place to start. It seems unfair of you to ask other people to volunteer time, effort and money on your behalf if your only reason for running is "why the hell not?"
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2016 22:07
|
|
|
Helsing posted:What issues are you actually planning to run on? I'm not sure how well the average voter delineates the levels of government, but as a state rep most issues HAVE to be simpler due to federal supremacy/preemption. I still haven't fully fleshed out my general campaign issues, but I have some time to do that. Starting tomorrow I just have to get signatures, and after that I have to get the support of the party. So in that sense my primary issues, and general election issues are going to be different. At the advice of my classmate I'm not going to be using my opponent's name, so in any instance where I'm referring to either of them as opponent here; that's how I plan to refer to them to the general electorate (she told me about a race where one candidate was talking about the other so much, they mistook the literature to be the other guy's). Well what the area desperately needs is good, sustainable jobs. Both of my opponents are supporters of giving business free taxes in order to bring in jobs. This has actually proved disastrous time and again in this area. Essentially whenever said business' free tax pass expires, they up and leave. My district is well below both the PA, and US per-capita, and median income levels. Low level service industry jobs aren't going to remedy that. Candidate answer would be more like... "Our district is in desperate need of good, sustainable jobs. I want to make an environment for those in our communities to start business, to employ those in our communities, and keep the money where it belongs; right here In our communities." Issue 2 I've been thinking is going to be government ineffectiveness/lawmaker ineptitude. In his 11 years in office, incumbent has sponsored 1 bill. The only bill he's ever authored was totally inconsequential to the general population. He was also being investigated by the FBI. PA has been stuck with a budget impasse for several months now. Current incumbent is a school board guy, he's voted against funding transparency for state education, and alternative/non-traditional education platforms. School districts within the district have been in the news quite a lot lately due to money scandals, so this is a pretty hot issue for the local population. I'm not sure if I want to tack this on to issue 2, or go with it for education. Lastly I think I need to talk about healthcare, not in the general sense though. My area has somewhat of a different dynamic than most areas I think. Both of our health systems (and there's only 2) are actually owned by the health insurance companies. Generally most of the population absolutely despises them in general (not so much their doctors and whatnot, but the companies themselves). It was just released the other day that the bigger of the 2 plans on building a new hospital , less than a mile from a hospital of the other health system. If that hospital opens, they're going to close a hospital that's in my district (because they'd be too close to each other). They've actually closed one community hospital a few years ago for the same reason, which a lot of people are still rather upset about.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2016 12:00
|
|
|
So after 2 days I'm at about 10% of the signatures that I need. Mostly people have been pretty receptive. I've had a couple of people not answer the door when it's starting to get dark out so I've been calling it quits early. Trying to get working class people between 5pm and when it gets dark is pretty drat tough. Most of my signatures have come from the 65+ folks that I highlighted and figured would be home during the day. So I think I'm gonna look for the highest concentrations of seniors and hit them during the day, and work on the long streets during the weekends. I should finish up the one town tomorrow (I'm going to avoid it for the weekend, since there's a pretty significant jewish population). I kind of had a situation where I about shat my pants earlier. I rang the doorbell and waited about a minute or so which is what I've been doing. I'm walking down the driveway (the property isn't fenced in at all) towards the street when 2 dogs come racing around the side of the house. No human there, just 2 dogs running at me full speed not on any lead. Besides being assholeish, I imagine that's probably illegal too. Anyway I didn't get mauled, but it was definitely off-putting so I just kind of jumped in the car and went farther down the street. I had one lady say she thought I was selling something.... Do people even sell things door to door anymore? One absolutely batshit crazy dude talking about some political system with no politicians. All in all I like being out there and talking to people, and interacting with them. Most everyone I talked to really does seem to be on board with my idea of ousting career politicians. Every single person that I've expressed my views to (because they asked what my views were before signing) has signed my petition. Unfortunately I have about 5 or so that probably will be no bueno. People signed in the print box and printed in the signed box, not 100% sure but I imagine those would be disqualified if challenged.
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2016 02:37
|
|
|
UrielX posted:So after 2 days I'm at about 10% of the signatures that I need. Mostly people have been pretty receptive. I've had a couple of people not answer the door when it's starting to get dark out so I've been calling it quits early. It's good that you're comfortable talking to people as that's probably the biggest natural hurdle to successfully running a campaign and it will make this whole process less grinding for you. So lets talk about the nuts and bolts of canvassing. SInce I don't know the exact specifics, I'm going to just estimate these numbers based on what you've said and you can correct me later. As best I can tell you have 14(now 12) days to collect 300 signatures. So assuming you canvassed all 14 days you would need 21.5 valid signatures a day to hit 300 signatures. Lets say you take Sundays off because Christians are at church/none too happy about people knocking on their doors on Sundays so you're only doing Saturdays. That makes for 12 total days of canvassing and a need to get 25 signatures all 12 of those days. So you would need to be shooting for 30 signatures a day assuming that some of them will be invalid. You now have 12 days left to get 270(275?) signatures so you'll need 22.5+. valid signatures per days you have left. You got 30 signatures in 2 days, a rate of 15 signatures per day. 9-15 signatures per 4 hours is pretty standard. How many hours at a time are you out there? You'll have to work out your efficiency at getting signatures and work accordingly to get 22.5 signatures a day. At your current level of 15 per day you would get 210 signatures in 14 days, 90+ signatures short of your goal. So you need something like an additional 10 4-hour shifts, probably 15 to be safe of getting around 10 signatures per 4 hour shifts So your options are spend more time canvassing or getting people to help you. If you can get 25-30 signatures a day (or whatever your actual numbers say you need) then just keep going as you are. If the number of signatures you need is going to be beyond your abilities then you need to work out how many signatures out of the total you can reasonably get in the time you have left and how many volunteer shifts (or pay some politically active college/highschool kids) you'll need to complete the rest. Lastly, yeah man some people are assholes and canvassing sucks. I've had a lot more good or at least neutral experience than bad ones, but they definitely happen. Practically everyone is going to assume that you're either a door to door salesman, a missionary or someone asking for money. A lot of the people who are either going to be home to talk to you or not just ignore you are going to be old people. A lot of crazy people are either going to want to rant at you about politics or get over the top, almost comically angry at you for daring to knock on their door. Have fun and good luck out there. Go figure I'm actually canvassing tomorrow afternoon for a friend of mine who's running for the state legislature.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2016 04:10
|
|
|
You wanna get more, since your opponent will hire folk like me to wine and dine your county officials and sit in on the signature county so that I can yell "OBJECTION!" to every loving single signature you got. Usually, 3-4x the required amount is enough to feel safe.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2016 04:34
|
|
|
My Imaginary GF posted:You wanna get more, since your opponent will hire folk like me to wine and dine your county officials and sit in on the signature county so that I can yell "OBJECTION!" to every loving single signature you got. Indeed, but really he'll mostly likely be fine in a po dunk race like this with an extra 100. Lets be honest though, the main concern is that he has 2 weeks to do this and he's only getting 5%ish per day. Dr.Mrs.The Monarch has issued a correction as of 05:15 on Jan 30, 2016 |
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2016 05:10
|
|
|
Dr.Mrs.The Monarch posted:Indeed, but really he'll mostly likely be fine in a po dunk race like this with an extra 100. Lets be honest though, the main concern is that he has 2 weeks to do this and he's only getting 5%ish per day. That's why I gave him a realistic cost estimate up front. You should always assume that it'll take at least $1/sig and you'll need 3-4x the sigs required in case someone decides to ratfuck ya, therefore best to have the cash on hand before you committ so that you know you'll at least have ballot access. It'd be so much loving easier for him if he worked through his local party. Folk really shouldn't enter politics without at least putting some time and effort in beforehand, like I do.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2016 05:17
|
|
|
My Imaginary GF posted:That's why I gave him a realistic cost estimate up front. I know man, you're preaching to the choir: Dr.Mrs.The Monarch posted:
Dr.Mrs.The Monarch posted:Idunno OP, while it's good experience and all, you could basically get all this experience for free and without taking years off your life with stress if you sat this election out and volunteered on someone else's campaign. 900-1200 is def the safe number and considering OP's inexperience with canvassing and lack of connections to his local network of politically active people, paying for signatures the only viable way to pull it off. Considering that he's trying to run as a Democrat anyway, I don't know why he's trying to dissociate from the party. Working with the party doesn't mean you're a career politician. Dr.Mrs.The Monarch has issued a correction as of 05:38 on Jan 30, 2016 |
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2016 05:35
|
|
|
Yeah, there are two ways to develop a base for launching a campaign: volunteering, and shmaltzing. Personally, I prefer shmaltzing. For instance, there is a boardgame group up here composed mostly of local judges, attorneys, and property owners. I go to a meeting once a month, I share how smart most folk are to have such insightful views that I agree on the essence of, and boy howdy back in Chicago I saw a lot of that problem as well and here's how the who did the what to result in the why that addressed it over the how long, and boy I wish this place had a vision that folk were pushing in line with your ideas. There is the volunteering, which is mostly helping others. Don't get me wrong, helping others is great! However, it ain't cost efficient to have a realistic candidate pounding turf 100% when some of that time could be devoted to dialing for dollars. I dunno about your suggestion with regards to local college dems. If you're near somewhere like Georgetown, yeah, you loving network with college constituents in your district. For a county race under a third-tier Congressional district? gently caress that, your loving college dems are likely to be a circlejerk of idealists who don't understand the meaning of pounding pavement nor dialing for dollars. Far, far better to spend that time finding a religion and doing good from within your religious community so as to better position yourself for countywide office. For instance: When I joined the last temple I attended, I started baking fresh challah for elderly individuals in the community, making home housecalls to them to ensure their wellness, and tutoring K-5 in reading and mathematics. Doing that for a year while living in the area, I feel comfortable returning to that district and getting myself in a local office, and all it took was one Saturday a month, at most, to do tikkun olam. The OP has a potential strength in his wife: he could have one faith, while his wife another, and use his networks through both to get others to do the busywork necessary for ballot access. Alas, I don't think OP has discovered the true meaning of g_d yet.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2016 05:56
|
|
|
My Imaginary GF posted:
This is also a very good point. OP do you have friends with lots of disposable income and influence in the community who can donate lots of money to your campaign? My Imaginary GF posted:There is the volunteering, which is mostly helping others. Don't get me wrong, helping others is great! However, it ain't cost efficient to have a realistic candidate pounding turf 100% when some of that time could be devoted to dialing for dollars. I know, but this guy has no campaign experience, it sounds like he's never really canvassed before, has no plan on raising money, doesn't have a platform, etc. Doing some phone banks, meeting the other people active in the community and coming to appreciate the local establishment would be beneficial in the future if he's going to run a shoestring campaign. My Imaginary GF posted:I dunno about your suggestion with regards to local college dems. If you're near somewhere like Georgetown, yeah, you loving network with college constituents in your district. For a county race under a third-tier Congressional district? gently caress that, your loving college dems are likely to be a circlejerk of idealists who don't understand the meaning of pounding pavement nor dialing for dollars. Far, far better to spend that time finding a religion and doing good from within your religious community so as to better position yourself for countywide office. My Imaginary GF posted:The OP has a potential strength in his wife: he could have one faith, while his wife another, and use his networks through both to get others to do the busywork necessary for ballot access. Alas, I don't think OP has discovered the true meaning of g_d yet. Dr.Mrs.The Monarch has issued a correction as of 07:39 on Jan 30, 2016 |
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2016 07:37
|
|
|
I actually am in contact with both the county, and the local committee. The main problem is most of the political machinery in the area is set up for Democrats, I'm actually trying to run as a Republican. Geographically there's only 1 committee near me, and I am working with the chairman. It's not exactly a shining beacon of support though (they're mostly older, and not exactly numerous).The mayor of the town I'm working now is an R, but isn't willing to help a candidate so that she can say she stayed out of it. I actually do have plans for fundraising, but I wanted to make sure I had ballot access first. I think it would be unfair to ask people for money, when I'm not even on the ballot. I do think getting ballot solo access is doable, even in the few days I've been out I've learned a lot about planning my routes and efficient use of time. I do have some small scale help as well (friends hitting up their families/friends). I've had a couple of people offer to help me canvass only to back out when I actually asked them to. Ultimately I think this weekend is going to be make or break for me. If I can't get at least 50+ per day (today and tomorrow) then I'm probably going to hang it up. I'm spending a lot of time doing this, but not going to keep going if it's essentially going to be all for naught. I've spent about 12 hours pounding pavement so far, and probably an equal amount of research/planning this week. My first 2 days out were horribly inefficient so I've made some changes that I'm really going to be putting into practice today. I have close to 300 households planned, as well as my "stretch goal" if I manage to get through there.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2016 13:26
|
|
|
UrielX posted:I actually am in contact with both the county, and the local committee. The main problem is most of the political machinery in the area is set up for Democrats, I'm actually trying to run as a Republican. Geographically there's only 1 committee near me, and I am working with the chairman. It's not exactly a shining beacon of support though (they're mostly older, and not exactly numerous).The mayor of the town I'm working now is an R, but isn't willing to help a candidate so that she can say she stayed out of it. So as a Democrat, let me tell ya first of all to gently caress right off. Second of all, have you found jesus yet? Did discovering your oppo's wife or gay lover had or paid for an abortion force you to take action? You raise money before you get on a ballot because that money pays for some gently caress'n canvassers at $1/sig. If you don't use all your money, you use it to purchase tickets to other campaigns' fundraisers and gain some gently caress'n connections n clout
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2016 20:18
|
|
|
I guess I just assumed you were running Democrat because you kept mentioning your friends from the DNC. So you're running as an anti-establishment Republican aka tea partier on the platform that the incumbent is a RINO? Yeah good luck man, this is more of a 2012 strategy. Also as the other guy is pointing out, your timing is all bad. You need to be doing everything before your campaign even officially starts. You should have a platform ready, be raising money and building a volunteer base out of everyone you meet from day one. 12 hours a week isn't enough of a time commitment, especially alone. Good luck getting 50+ signatures a day by yourself
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2016 01:05
|
|
|
I'm hanging it up. Yeah it's just too much for me to do by myself. Honestly I'm more of an independent, but I think I'd even have less of a snowball's chance in hell running that way. I went the republican route because I did have contacts in the local party (which did jack and poo poo for me), and because being an I just isn't viable in my state (as a candidate). Abortion is a tricky thing and I definitely agree that both sides have valid points. Only ran into one person in a week that asked me about it, and then didn't sign my petition due to my answer. And I was asked more than a few dozen times what I thought about Trump. I'm not particularly xenophobic, or religious, and definitely not a tea-partier. I was intentionally vague with my party affiliation because I didn't want to get into a partisan pissing match. Suffice to say I wouldn't be the epitome of either party as a hardliner. I fully believe we need more options on the ballot than what's currently offered but whatever. UrielX has issued a correction as of 01:43 on Jan 31, 2016 |
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2016 01:37
|
|
|
It doesn't matter which party you go for, so long as you believe in yourself above all else. If you don't believe in ideals, believe in yourself and go with the party most likely to get you into a position of influence. Maybe it would be better if you tried joining a community or volunteering with an area nonprofit for a year?
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2016 01:46
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 17, 2024 00:56 |
|
|
I guess, OP, if there's one thing which you take away from this thread, I would suggest it be to buy and read this book: http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671027034
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2016 01:51
|
|