Oh crap. Someone actually read this.
I actually had a comment on this thing tonight. After ignoring it for... oh about 3-4 months, Someone actually posted something to it. Which obligates me to the readership of one.
What's happened since I last posted? We lost the ballot referral. By a whole whopping 27 votes.
When I got into it, I told the other two people heading it up "If we want to win, I need $3000 to run this thing on." A gasp went up as in "$3000 - that's unheard of". Well, no it isn't, but I had that pegged. Those fundraising raised about $700 cash, and about $1200 in in-kind contributions. And we lost by 27 votes.
Kinda vindicates my thinking. The other side outspent us at least by about 3-1. And we fought them to 27 votes away from victory. If I could have had another $1000, I think we could have won it by 75-100 votes.
Dammit! Why doesn't anyone listen? They must think I pull these figures out of my tail.
Similar situation a year back. A friend was running for School Board in Ft. Pierre., and I told him I'd help. I told him he needed to be prepared to spend $1800 - 2000 to win. He said "Nope. I'm not going to spend that. I'll go door to door and put my signs out."
Well, door to door time came and went, with no action. And 2 4x8 signs got out. EXCELLENT locations, but it was just 2 signs, and he was running against 5 people - 2 of which were Ft. Pierre "names". Local names - you know, the kind whose families have been in town since South Dakota was a territory. And guess what, they won.
I contrast that with the Hughes County Commission candidate I helped in the primary at the same time for an open seat (another seat up was filled by an incumbent). I said "Be prepared to spend $5000 - he said "that's quite a bit, but if we can raise it, that's what we'll spend.
For 2 seats, we came in second. Not only did we beat back the other challengers, we totally OWNED them. I had been told that the losers both had the opinion "I'm not going to spend $1000 to run a race." Fools. How in the name of god did they expect people would find out about them? Psychic ability?
The basic thing in any race is that Name ID is number one. Once you get your name ID up around 80-90%, THEN you can think about issues, etc. If they don't think they know you, you arene't going to get their vote.
Most races in SD are pure name ID races. Only when you get to the "level" of some statewide races, does the race become about issues. Same with school board, county commission, and State Legislator. Unless they know you, worry about getting them to remember your name first.
And to my single reader... I like the chinese in Downtown Pierre too. But I have one daughter who plays with a daughter of the owner of the large buffet, so she always gives us quick service and a good seat. (It's not what you know, it's who....) ;)
What's happened since I last posted? We lost the ballot referral. By a whole whopping 27 votes.
When I got into it, I told the other two people heading it up "If we want to win, I need $3000 to run this thing on." A gasp went up as in "$3000 - that's unheard of". Well, no it isn't, but I had that pegged. Those fundraising raised about $700 cash, and about $1200 in in-kind contributions. And we lost by 27 votes.
Kinda vindicates my thinking. The other side outspent us at least by about 3-1. And we fought them to 27 votes away from victory. If I could have had another $1000, I think we could have won it by 75-100 votes.
Dammit! Why doesn't anyone listen? They must think I pull these figures out of my tail.
Similar situation a year back. A friend was running for School Board in Ft. Pierre., and I told him I'd help. I told him he needed to be prepared to spend $1800 - 2000 to win. He said "Nope. I'm not going to spend that. I'll go door to door and put my signs out."
Well, door to door time came and went, with no action. And 2 4x8 signs got out. EXCELLENT locations, but it was just 2 signs, and he was running against 5 people - 2 of which were Ft. Pierre "names". Local names - you know, the kind whose families have been in town since South Dakota was a territory. And guess what, they won.
I contrast that with the Hughes County Commission candidate I helped in the primary at the same time for an open seat (another seat up was filled by an incumbent). I said "Be prepared to spend $5000 - he said "that's quite a bit, but if we can raise it, that's what we'll spend.
For 2 seats, we came in second. Not only did we beat back the other challengers, we totally OWNED them. I had been told that the losers both had the opinion "I'm not going to spend $1000 to run a race." Fools. How in the name of god did they expect people would find out about them? Psychic ability?
The basic thing in any race is that Name ID is number one. Once you get your name ID up around 80-90%, THEN you can think about issues, etc. If they don't think they know you, you arene't going to get their vote.
Most races in SD are pure name ID races. Only when you get to the "level" of some statewide races, does the race become about issues. Same with school board, county commission, and State Legislator. Unless they know you, worry about getting them to remember your name first.
And to my single reader... I like the chinese in Downtown Pierre too. But I have one daughter who plays with a daughter of the owner of the large buffet, so she always gives us quick service and a good seat. (It's not what you know, it's who....) ;)
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