I ran for office (Redmond, WA City Council) and got 39% of the vote, and I didn't do nearly as much (press releases and the like) as the author did. I showed up for the "voter's forums" and the like, and the newspaper endorsement interviews. I spent money on yard signs, and spent many an evening putting them out. And I went door-to-door, using voter data to better target the doors upon which I knocked.
I do wonder how much you get for just having your name on the ballot. Here's what I told my wife during the campaign: "meh, I'm only running so that my opponent doesn't run unopposed. But if I weren't running against him, I'd vote for him." IOW, my opponent was a decent guy who held office for mostly the right reasons. And I still got 39%.
Anyone can run for office, fill out the form, pay the fee. How much you want to do after that is up to you. But if you don't have a track record (volunteer for the Parks board, head up the local trail improvement group, etc.), you won't get an endorsement. No one in the local political "machine" knows you. So go buy some signs, put on your walking shoes, and start knocking on doors. Have a few platform items that you think are important, and stick to those without getting distracted by things like "are you an R or a D?" for a non-partisan office. Ask questions of those you meet. What do they think is important? Do you think it's important enough to have a response?
Mainly, have fun. If you don't like meeting new people (which I don't), aren't able to think on your feet (I am), politics might not be for you. But despite my aversion to people, I found it fascinating and kind of fun, interspersed with large periods of boredom.
You would have to run candidates with different names, in this case we have a Jewish name (author) running against a somewhat Hispanic name, I imagine some percentage of people would vote just on perception of ethnicity.
That's definitely true; maybe if you know there's an anglo-sounding unopposed candidate and you have an anglo name, you can probably find an anglo friend to run alongside you.
Comments
I ran for office (Redmond, WA City Council) and got 39% of the vote, and I didn't do nearly as much (press releases and the like) as the author did. I showed up for the "voter's forums" and the like, and the newspaper endorsement interviews. I spent money on yard signs, and spent many an evening putting them out. And I went door-to-door, using voter data to better target the doors upon which I knocked.
I do wonder how much you get for just having your name on the ballot. Here's what I told my wife during the campaign: "meh, I'm only running so that my opponent doesn't run unopposed. But if I weren't running against him, I'd vote for him." IOW, my opponent was a decent guy who held office for mostly the right reasons. And I still got 39%.
Anyone can run for office, fill out the form, pay the fee. How much you want to do after that is up to you. But if you don't have a track record (volunteer for the Parks board, head up the local trail improvement group, etc.), you won't get an endorsement. No one in the local political "machine" knows you. So go buy some signs, put on your walking shoes, and start knocking on doors. Have a few platform items that you think are important, and stick to those without getting distracted by things like "are you an R or a D?" for a non-partisan office. Ask questions of those you meet. What do they think is important? Do you think it's important enough to have a response?
Mainly, have fun. If you don't like meeting new people (which I don't), aren't able to think on your feet (I am), politics might not be for you. But despite my aversion to people, I found it fascinating and kind of fun, interspersed with large periods of boredom.
Easy way to test this is to have another friend run for the same office, and do zero campaigning.
Well, "easy"; at the very least, you'd know which paperwork to fill out given that you're doing it as well.
You would have to run candidates with different names, in this case we have a Jewish name (author) running against a somewhat Hispanic name, I imagine some percentage of people would vote just on perception of ethnicity.
That's definitely true; maybe if you know there's an anglo-sounding unopposed candidate and you have an anglo name, you can probably find an anglo friend to run alongside you.