| Date |
Title |
Words |
Entry . . |
| 4 June 2008 |
How we got here |
417 |
A colleague recently asked me to publish what we were doing so that it could be repeated . . .
|
| 5 June 2008 |
Lessons learned |
263 |
Reviewing how we got here caused me to think about what I wish that I had done . . .
|
| 6 June 2008 |
Primary vs. Signatures |
235 |
Election results for the primary are in for the second Assembly District. . . .
|
| 7 June 2008 |
Financing and advertising |
228 |
I have been thinking about money and advertising recently as I have been . . .
|
| 8 June 2008 |
Relay for Life |
287 |
Relay for Life is an annual American Cancer Society event. Last night . . .
|
| 9 June 2008 |
Advertising |
162 |
Today I took the plunge and plunked down the first $1000 for . . .
|
| 10 June 2008 |
Registration |
308 |
Americans who are not registered to vote are saying by their absence that . . .
|
| 12 June 2008 |
Ad Day |
57 |
Today is the first day of newspaper ads in the Sutter and Shasta regions . . .
|
| 13 June 2008 |
Community Outreach |
318 |
Last night Sutter County held an open planning meeting which drew two to three . . .
|
| 14 June 2008 |
Ad Response |
151 |
There has been no measurable response to date from the first ad. Perhaps with time . . .
|
| 15 June 2008 |
More lessons |
309 |
As the campaign progresses, I find more things I wish I had done sooner. . . .
|
| 17 June 2008 |
The Media |
305 |
Today I spent most of my time with media related issues. The always congenial Bob Harlan . . .
|
| 19 June 2008 |
Apathy? |
325 |
During my discussions with different people about getting involved in the campaign, . . .
|
| 20 June 2008 |
Multitasking |
192 |
Today marks the first day of my first on call weekend since the campaign began. . . .
|
| 21 June 2008 |
Surgical Calls |
122 |
So far this weekend I have only seen one person who needed surgery, but lack of . . .
|
| 24 June 2008 |
Call Finale |
250 |
About once a year I get so busy on call that I don't have time to eat or sleep. . . .
|
| 27 June 2008 |
Registration |
175 |
Having recovered from my busy call weekend, I have been working diligently . . .
|
| 28 June 2008 |
Registration online |
230 |
Registration is now available. Please consider this a beta test. There may still be . . .
|
| 30 June 2008 |
Downtime |
309 |
Today has been an extremely frustrating day. I have been using the same web host . . .
|
| 2 July 2008 |
Ad update |
174 |
Every week or so we have been modifying the ads in the paper to see which ones . . .
|
| 5 July 2008 |
News Interview |
302 |
With the celebration of our nation's birth just behind us and the rest of a long . . .
|
| 9 July 2008 |
Not much |
174 |
It has been a few days since my last entry, but not much has changed. . . .
|
| 12 July 2008 |
Tragedy |
554 |
Early this morning, a little after 2 AM, the phone rang. One of my colleagues was . . .
|
| 13 July 2008 |
Contribution Ceiling |
209 |
The voluntary financial contribution ceiling for an assembly campaign is about . . .
|
| 21 July 2008 |
Last Call |
104 |
This past weekend I was on call for the ER for four days in a row. It was a . . .
|
| 22 July 2008 |
More lessons |
249 |
Reflecting back, there are a few more things to do differently next time. . . .
|
| 23 July 2008 |
Positive Reflections |
493 |
In three posts I have talked about what I would do differently. It is just
as important to mention what I would do the same.
We (myself and supporters) spent time talking to the voters. The problem with our government is not the people representing us, it is the process, the games that must be played in order to get anything done. The solution is to change the process for the better. The basic principles of this campaign resonated with our community and with voters outside of our community. There was broad support for the concepts and ideals. There was broad support for positive change. Clearly the message is the right message.
Supporting the basic principles of the campaign, we collected no financial contributions and spent as little money as possible. It is unclear whether spending more money would have made a significant difference. Signs and posters might have spread the word farther, but would that result in more action? We could have paid signature gatherers to qualify for the ballot. If I qualified for the ballot with paid signatures, what would the investment of "the People" have been in the campaign? I am not convinced that getting on the ballot and getting votes is sufficient to develop a partnership with "the People". However, as a transitional option, we may have to discuss this further. It would also be a way to inform voters about the campaign face to face and might generate greater interest, particularly if coupled with distribution of the one page campaign summary.
The advertising we did was effective at getting the message out. I heard from many that they had seen the ads and they understood the plan. Many said they strongly supported what we were doing. I could not have done these ads without the help of professionals
Sygale Lomas and
Steve Lanning. They were my contacts at the
Appeal-Democrat and
Redding Record Searchlight respectively. Most important was my volunteer PR department. Without her, none of this could be accomplished.
Retaining a focus on the principles and the issues was effective in maintaining our plan to move the process away from sound bites. Discussions with our local media was worthwhile and should always occur in any campaign. Starting the campaign with family, neighbors and colleagues was helpful to make the transition from citizen to candidate. The first few discussions seemed awkward, having never been a candidate for public office before. Speaking first with people who had a high likelihood of being willing to support the campaign made the emotional transition easier. It also ensured that they didn't hear about the campaign from someone else first.
For a first campaign with a novel approach, it has gone quite well overall. Tomorrow we will have an idea about how many signatures have been gathered and I will ask those of you who have provided an email address, "what shall we do next"?
Thanks to all of you for your support.
|
| 25 July 2008 |
Next steps |
196 |
The petition deadline passed yesterday. Today I will check with the county clerks . . .
|
| 26 July 2008 |
Counts |
185 |
Yesterday I checked with the Sutter County Clerk's office to get an . . .
|
| 1 August 2008 |
Healthcare Apocolypse |
206 |
Today I sent a heated email to the Governor's office for his support . . .
|
| 10 August 2008 |
Emotional Intelligence |
159 |
Having just returned from a rare and overdue vacation with my family, . . .
|
| 17 August 2008 |
Youth Vote |
164 |
Yesterday I was invited to a Democratic party rally for Barack Obama . . .
|
| 19 August 2008 |
Partisan Politics |
264 |
It is rather disappointing to have to go from praising the Democrats for . . .
|
| 28 August 2008 |
Take Action |
358 |
Today I was getting a haircut and I asked the stylist about her political . . .
|
| 2 September 2008 |
Holiday Workers |
331 |
Did you know that our hardworking representatives work holidays and weekends? . . .
|
| 14 September 2008 |
Governing Failures |
102 |
Yesterday it was reported that the Governor has failed to . . .
|
| 22 September 2008 |
Truly Independent |
152 |
An AP article today talks about the distribution of California voters . . .
|
| 28 September 2008 |
To Write-in? |
136 |
This campaign will continue after the election as an example of what . . .
|
| 9 October 2008 |
No Write-in |
89 |
The tally from supporters is in and considering the pros and the cons . . .
|
| 25 November 2008 |
Shutting down |
122 |
This will likely be the last entry in the campaign blog for quite . . .
|
