Here SDWC comes to save the day!
I'm excited. This weekend I made my first contact for a new candidate to work with this next election. "Candidate X" is excited about the process and wants to make a difference in South Dakota. We've just started e-mailing back and forth, and I think I can make their race, at the very least, competitive.
Of course, the goal is decisive victory, but there's a lot of time between now and the election. And whether that's achievable is going to be based on the motivation of the candidate. I can flap my gums all I want and say "do this, and don't do that" but if they aren't going to do what it takes, then advice and guidance isn't going to put them over the hump.
Now as far as exclusivity, this isn't to say I'm not going to work with people whom I've worked with before. There are a couple with whom I've been talking already for 2006, and I have projects here and there that I anticipate I'll be working on. But this new candidate - this is the type of candidate that defines what I'm all about.
Candidate X is young, and has never run before. But "X" is going to give it a shot against difficult odds. "X" has said that they'd appreciate any advice and assistance I can offer, and I anticipate it will be needed because there will likely be a primary election involved in all of this. So "X" will have to get past at least one GOP aspirant before even getting to the second leg of the election process.
And if I can help, I will.
Why do I do this? I think I've mentioned it before - After 5-6 years of working on campaigns, I decided I was going to be that candidate in a challenger race. I was going to take on difficult odds in a local city election. I was going to the one to kick butt and take names.
And the silence was deafening. Where were the people I had hoped would rally to my cause? I don't know. If you listened you could easily hear the crickets chirping where I expected cries of support.
I was managing it myself, I was doing everything myself, and I didn't have anyone kicking my butt making me go door to door. And it was a challenger race. I was predictably doomed from the start.
After that, I vowed to try to prevent that experience from happening to good candidates again if I could help it.
Because when most of us go into it, we optimistically believe that one person can change the world. Anyone can be president. Any one can win an election. And given the right argument, the tide can turn the way of the underdog candidate.
No candidate wants to focus on name id, and rating points, and all the other nonsense that goes on behind the scenes. They need to have that infectious optimism that they can help make the world a better place through a debate of ideas.
And 12 years later, here I am. Behind the scenes continuing to try to wade through all that crap for new candidates.
There are several whom I've helped who have won. There are some that have lost too, but they ran with authority and when it was all said and done nobody doubted their ability or their credibility. And they'll likely be back to give it another shot.
So, for the new candidates, and the ones I've helped before who will be back - bring those ideas and that optimism. Because I've got your back.
Of course, the goal is decisive victory, but there's a lot of time between now and the election. And whether that's achievable is going to be based on the motivation of the candidate. I can flap my gums all I want and say "do this, and don't do that" but if they aren't going to do what it takes, then advice and guidance isn't going to put them over the hump.
Now as far as exclusivity, this isn't to say I'm not going to work with people whom I've worked with before. There are a couple with whom I've been talking already for 2006, and I have projects here and there that I anticipate I'll be working on. But this new candidate - this is the type of candidate that defines what I'm all about.
Candidate X is young, and has never run before. But "X" is going to give it a shot against difficult odds. "X" has said that they'd appreciate any advice and assistance I can offer, and I anticipate it will be needed because there will likely be a primary election involved in all of this. So "X" will have to get past at least one GOP aspirant before even getting to the second leg of the election process.
And if I can help, I will.
Why do I do this? I think I've mentioned it before - After 5-6 years of working on campaigns, I decided I was going to be that candidate in a challenger race. I was going to take on difficult odds in a local city election. I was going to the one to kick butt and take names.
And the silence was deafening. Where were the people I had hoped would rally to my cause? I don't know. If you listened you could easily hear the crickets chirping where I expected cries of support.
I was managing it myself, I was doing everything myself, and I didn't have anyone kicking my butt making me go door to door. And it was a challenger race. I was predictably doomed from the start.
After that, I vowed to try to prevent that experience from happening to good candidates again if I could help it.
Because when most of us go into it, we optimistically believe that one person can change the world. Anyone can be president. Any one can win an election. And given the right argument, the tide can turn the way of the underdog candidate.
No candidate wants to focus on name id, and rating points, and all the other nonsense that goes on behind the scenes. They need to have that infectious optimism that they can help make the world a better place through a debate of ideas.
And 12 years later, here I am. Behind the scenes continuing to try to wade through all that crap for new candidates.
There are several whom I've helped who have won. There are some that have lost too, but they ran with authority and when it was all said and done nobody doubted their ability or their credibility. And they'll likely be back to give it another shot.
So, for the new candidates, and the ones I've helped before who will be back - bring those ideas and that optimism. Because I've got your back.
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