A few quick observations from my first experience in a serious political campaign

[slackmaster]

I've spent most of the last three weekends, and some evenings mid-week, working on the nominating papers for a candidate for a local non-partisan elected office.

One requirement to get on the ballot is a $200 filing fee, which is waived if you can gather 1,000 valid signatures on a nominating petition. There is a minimum of 100 valid signatures.

1. Gathering signatures for a nominating petition is HARD WORK! I've run petitions many times before, but usually the issue comes down to something simple like "Would you support building a new animal shelter?" or "I'm from the Citizen's Committee to Stop Chuck-E-Cheese, would you like to sign our petition?" Most people require little thought to give you a yes or no answer.

A nominating petition for a largely unknown candidate is far more challenging. You have a matter of seconds to get peoples' attention, determine if they are eligible to sign, then convince them why they should take a couple of minutes of their time to sign something. They want the Reader's Digest version of what your candidate stands for.

2. Immigrants are by far the most willing to talk to you, regardless of their political affiliation. The problems with our system notwithstanding, most of them come from places where political activity is not as free and open as it is here. They fought hard to get here, and they are very willing to participate in the process.

3. Partisans of all stripes are the nastiest, meanest people you will find. If the first words out of a person's mouth are "Is your candidate a Republican or a Democrat?", you can be sure that you are going to get some abuse if you give the "wrong" answer.

My own level of party loyalty is very low. I put party affiliation way down in the stack, just above things I give zero consideration to like race, gender, and sexual orientation. But there are a lot of people out there, maybe 20% of the population around here, who don't even want to talk to you if you aren't supporting a candidate from their party. This I find particularly strange when the office for which you are running someone is totally non-partisan. Party matters in houses of Congress and state legislatures. But in a municipal non-partisan office, using party as a primary consideration is just lazy.

4. Most Republicans aren't that bad to talk to. They know their party is in trouble, and they are willing to entertain voting for someone who is not in the GOP. Especially older voters, who are happy to spend five minutes or more with you, discussing issues.

5. The manest, nastiest partisans are Democrats. If your candidate isn't the "heir apparent" supported by the local party machinery (i.e. the person they were told to vote for by the outgoing official), they'll slam the door in your face. Their minds are made up before information on alternatives is available. (I've studied the opposition candidates in great detail. It's part of my job.)

6. A lot of people lie when they don't want to talk to you. One man told us he couldn't open the front door to his house because he didn't have a key. An older woman who didn't want to get up from her chair told me she'd already voted. Excuses for not wanting to sign the petition cover a wide range of obvious prevarications.

I like it when people give very direct answers, even when negative.

7. Gay and lesbian voters wield major clout in our jurisdiction. You cannot win without significant support from them. That is no surprise to me, but I met several who are only willing to vote for a candidate who is openly gay, and won't give you any consideration if your candidate is not so. Fortunately for us, my candidate has a long-standing reputation for good relations with gay and lesbian people. All of us on the committee are perfectly comfortable canvassing gay neighborhoods and talking to people.

That's it for now. I still have a day job that needs attention.

:hi: