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Sheng-Ji Yang
Mar 5, 2014


ScrubLeague posted:

richard if you're still reading this thread i hoep you don't feel bad about how this went i'm proud of the work you did and looking forward to helping your campaign against the evil and ruthless republicans in lovely suburban north texas

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M_Gargantua
Oct 16, 2006

STOMP'N ON INTO THE POWERLINES

Exciting Lemon
can we elect slouch as forums representative? hes over qualified

also hes inspired more goons to run for office or take up civil service, he has left an indelible mark

anime was right
Jun 27, 2008

death is certain
keep yr cool
just remember bernie ran and failed to win local office a few times before he made it big, he was by societal standards a deadbeat at the time

what im saying is congrats on being prez in 2060

UrbicaMortis
Feb 16, 2012

Hmm, how shall I post today?

anime was right posted:

just remember bernie ran and failed to win local office a few times before he made it big, he was by societal standards a deadbeat at the time

what im saying is congrats on being prez in 2060

When Laura Haines loses, looking forward to posting 'dick wolf would have won' a thousand times.

Dom is Here
Nov 11, 2016

Lipstick Apathy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBQP9gEldRk

Ruzihm
Aug 11, 2010

Group up and push mid, proletariat!


anime was right posted:

just remember bernie ran and failed to win local office a few times before he made it big, he was by societal standards a deadbeat at the time

what im saying is congrats on being prez in 2060

Lawman 0
Aug 17, 2010

I'm glad you ran op

Agean90
Jun 28, 2008


fail an election twice, run for office 3 times op

freckle
Apr 6, 2016

by Nyc_Tattoo
change your name to bernie sanders and run in the dem primary for 2020

Guy Goodbody
Aug 31, 2016

by Nyc_Tattoo
Figure out what the next election you can run for is and do it. Never stop running for office until you win.

Scionix
Oct 17, 2009

hoog emm xDDD
I live in Austin and said candidate did not knock on my door, fraud imo

freckle
Apr 6, 2016

by Nyc_Tattoo

Scionix posted:

I live in Austin and said candidate did not knock on my door, fraud imo

your door probably looked like poo poo

Scionix
Oct 17, 2009

hoog emm xDDD

freckle posted:

your door probably looked like poo poo

I already said I lived in Austin moron

DAD LOST MY IPOD
Feb 3, 2012

Fats Dominar is on the case


ScrubLeague posted:

richard if you're still reading this thread i hoep you don't feel bad about how this went i'm proud of the work you did and looking forward to helping your campaign against the evil and ruthless republicans in lovely suburban north texas

crazy cloud
Nov 7, 2012

by Cyrano4747
Lipstick Apathy

freckle posted:

change your name to bernie sanders and run in the dem primary for 2020

ScrubLeague
Feb 11, 2007

Nap Ghost
hi richard i have'nt seen you make any posts since this happened just letting you know i'm still proud of u and hope yr doing ok

GalacticAcid
Apr 8, 2013

NEW YORK VALUES
yeah same

Karl Barks
Jan 21, 1981

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

Ruzihm
Aug 11, 2010

Group up and push mid, proletariat!


stay safe dick ghost

BrutalistMcDonalds
Oct 4, 2012


Lipstick Apathy
from my highly-sensitive and well-placed sources, i.e. facebook, it appears richard "dick" wolf is moderating a candidate forum in flower mound this weekend

so he's staying busy

M_Gargantua
Oct 16, 2006

STOMP'N ON INTO THE POWERLINES

Exciting Lemon
dick wolf, rising political hero

Agean90
Jun 28, 2008


BrutalistMcDonalds posted:

from my highly-sensitive and well-placed sources, i.e. facebook, it appears richard "dick" wolf is moderating a candidate forum in flower mound this weekend

so he's staying busy

hey good, im glad he's staying active in his community. a lost election at 20 is more than what most people accomplish.

Shear Modulus
Jun 9, 2010



BrutalistMcDonalds posted:

from my highly-sensitive and well-placed sources, i.e. facebook, it appears richard "dick" wolf is moderating a candidate forum in flower mound this weekend

so he's staying busy

by "moderating" i assume you mean executive producing

Billzasilver
Nov 8, 2016

I lift my drink and sing a song

for who knows if life is short or long?


Man's life is like the morning dew

past days many, future days few

BrutalistMcDonalds posted:

from my highly-sensitive and well-placed sources, i.e. facebook, it appears richard "dick" wolf is moderating a candidate forum in flower mound this weekend

so he's staying busy

this is good


Dick "Richard" Wolf is good

Squizzle
Apr 24, 2008




dick the wolf buck

The Aardvark
Aug 19, 2013


:doink:

slouch
Mar 10, 2009


hey yall sorry for being so mia lately. i promise i am still alive and everything. losing was insanely embarrassing and was quickly followed by my (now ex) girlfriend deciding that she would rather pursue sex work than our relationship. it's been an emotionally difficult month and a half. unfortunately a lot of the other political races in my area did not end up going to my preferred candidates. i was hoping that if i lost i would be able to work for another "life raft" campaign but there hasn't been much available. that said, continuing to stay active has been keeping me somewhat sane recently. i've been doing graphic design type poo poo for the local party and some other candidates. i got added to the county's coordinated campaign comittee and have somehow been given the ability and authority to mass text every single person who voted in the primaries, which has been amusing so far. there was also the local town candidates forum i was the moderator for, which gave me the opportunity to bring up issues like affordable housing. since it was mostly republican candidates they all said that It Was All Up To The Free Market but this got a pretty negative reaction from the audience. i would also really like to get involved more heavily in a DSA organization, either Denton's or the general north texas group. anyway all of this is to say that i'm trying to keep myself busy.

anyway here are some takeaways from my Campaign Experience

1: i did a poor job of reaching out to un-engaged voters
something that we saw across the county was a lot more voter participation from people who weren't involved in the party or any campaign events than we expected. a lot of this was driven by suburban area moms who are probably not too happy with the donald. this led to a lot of voting by name, and female candidates ended up taking every contested primary they were involved in. some people have been grumpy about gender based voting but tbh i think it's pretty dope for women who are running for office. ultimately it falls on me for not getting my name and platform out there to those voters. i'm not exactly sure what i could have done to accomplish this goal but that's kinda my job as a candidate. fwiw pretty much everyone who was actually involved in the party supported and voted for me in the end.

2: you probably don't need a ton of money to run a primary campaign
yall donated way too much money to me lol. i ended up donating about 1.8k of my leftover campaign funds to North Texas Dream Team, an organization that does a bunch to support DACA recipients. (i probably should have just kept the money for myself but it seemed inappropriate) my biggest campaign cost was the billboard thing, and it was probably an unnecessary expense. doing in person events and online advertising can both be done for pretty cheap. i have no idea what amount of cash i would need to run an effective general election campaign but if you are considering running yourself you really don't need to worry about having enough money in the early stages. fundraising will come more easily post-primary when you really need to start spending. this is especially true if you can manage to leverage traditional media to advertise yourself for free.

3: running is fun
it's pretty exciting. if you aren't afraid of speaking in public definitely give it a shot. you will meet a bunch of nice people and maybe even make some new friends. even my idiot autism brain was able to handle it. there will probably be a bunch of stupid drama happening but it's pretty easy to ignore. just be a decent person and things will be fine. most people want to like you and will be friendly.

4: people definitely are ready for left wing politics
my biggest worry going into this was that the local democratic party would not be comfortable with my political ideology. this ended up not being a problem at all. people really want to hear bold policy goals and will respond positively if you present your ideas in a way that makes sense. my only hope is that the national party learns this one before the upcoming presidential election. the old paradigm of "safe" politics has been pretty much shattered among voters which is an exciting prospect for anyone who wants to push a less traditional political platform. the sooner we acknowledge and begin working under this new political landscape the better.

5: working "within the system" can affect change
this is something that is kinda contentious within left wing circles but i strongly believe it to be true. political power requires organization and the easiest way to get it is to take advantage of the political organizations already in place. i don't mean to say that everyone should just support bad dems or whatever, though. accomplishing anything worthwhile will end up taking a bunch of work. but it only takes a few well organized people and a decent speaker to make an impact. i would really like to see orgs like the DSA pushing hard in 2019 to get candidates on the ballot across the country. having lost the election might take away a bit from this one but i've personally seen my local democrat party go from mostly just being anti-trump to actively supporting affordable housing initiatives, minimum wage increases, supporting the abolish-ICE movement, medicare for all, etc. getting these ideas out there and seeding people who are willing to make poo poo happen throughout the establishment would be extremely effective in achieving change. the left really needs to begin developing a network of people in establishment positions of power. protesting on the streets would be much more effective if there were also supportive people in the rooms where decisions get made. this is especially true right now, as politicians and bureaucrats currently have no incentive to actually listen to critical voices. this is not meant to take away from the importance and value of grassroots activism - both realms of political activity work best when they can support each other & work together/

6: give people stuff to do
this is more of a general organizing principal that i've learned. the best way to engage a group is to make sure that everyone has a chance to feel like they are doing something productive. create opportunities for people to do small things, make it as easy as possible for people to get involved in taking on bigger jobs, and definitely schedule social events so that people stay connected with each other. it's easy to feel useless and feeling useless just leads to burnout. having too much stuff to do is a much better problem to have than under-scheduling and letting people forget that they are valuable parts of something important.


anyway that's all i've got for right now. thanks to everybody itt for being supportive and kind to me. obviously i wish i had won, but i don't feel like the time spent has been wasted at all. it would have been really funny to put on a good show in the general election though. and when i run again in 2020 seriously don't throw your money away until after the primary is over, okay?

The Aardvark
Aug 19, 2013


The WolfPAC begins funding now

Taintrunner
Apr 10, 2017

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
I’m proud of you slouch and I’m glad to see my money went to a good place and that you haven’t given up. you’re a solid dude

Ruzihm
Aug 11, 2010

Group up and push mid, proletariat!


Hey bud I'm glad to hear you've been staying in the fight, despite the rough times lately. Good for you. Seriously. It takes guts.

LinYutang
Oct 12, 2016

NEOLIBERAL SHITPOSTER

:siren:
VOTE BLUE NO MATTER WHO!!!
:siren:
thank you for trying! :hfive:

Rastor
Jun 2, 2001

dickwolf I'm sorry to hear about the depressing turns of events. I still say there was nothing embarrassing about your campaign, not even the loss margin. You've got a level head and that's a good analysis. Thanks again for fighting the good fight.

M_Gargantua
Oct 16, 2006

STOMP'N ON INTO THE POWERLINES

Exciting Lemon
honestly it sounds like you dodged a crazy bullet with the ex

find someone who likes you for your raging hard policy and not your pretty campaign

lollontee
Nov 4, 2014
Probation
Can't post for 10 years!
goondolences for all the hardship you've had to experience. even if you lost, you did something I don't think anyone else here has ever achieved, and everyone here is no doubt immensily grateful to you for your efforts.

Win or lose, you are an inspiration to us all.

Cyberpunkey Monkey
Jun 23, 2003

by Nyc_Tattoo
do it again next time and fail better.

great work dude.

Trumps Baby Hands
Mar 27, 2016

Silent white light filled the world. And the righteous and unrighteous alike were consumed in that holy fire.
I don’t think this even counts as a failure or a loss. It’s just the first sentence in the “Political Career” section of your future Wikipedia page. “At the age of 23, Richard Wolf ran unsuccessfully in the democratic primary for Texas House District 63”, followed by a few other paragraphs about your subsequent successful campaigns, followed by a massive ten page section about your sex scandals and cover ups

Comrayn
Jul 22, 2008
I don’t think you should be embarrassed about losing. It was a long shot to try at 23 and it would’ve been even longer in the general. Sucks about your girlfriend but also agree with the guy who said it sounds like you dodged a bullet.

anime was right
Jun 27, 2008

death is certain
keep yr cool

LinYutang posted:

thank you for trying! :hfive:

:yeah:

Lutha Mahtin
Oct 10, 2010

Your brokebrain sin is absolved...go and shitpost no more!

this is pretty cool OP it sounds like you have discovered a vocation!

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GalacticAcid
Apr 8, 2013

NEW YORK VALUES
you should try to get a fellowship at some grifter think tank

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