Apr 14

Written by: Steve Erbach
Saturday, April 14, 2007 3:40 PM

There's nothing like experience.  I'm not sure if a political science degree would prepare someone for running for local office.  I suspect that it wouldn't.

Mistakes I made that I won't make again:

1. Doing it all by myself.  That isn't strictly true: my wife, Janet, designed spiffy yard signs for me, helped me assemble the newspaper ad, and helped me with the two mailings I did.  And, of course, there were my 8 campaign contributors, and the people that took a bunch of my yard signs to put up.  Those people include: Patricia Wirth, Geriann and Joe Heath, Vicky Head, and Dan Dringoli.  (Yes, that Dan Dringoli.)  But as far as creating and printing the hundreds of handouts, printing and addressing the personalized mailings, and doing the actual door-to-door work, I did that alone.  It was very satisfying but not nearly as satisfying as it could have been if I'd assembled a campaign committee and multiplied my efforts that way.  That's what I'm going to do next time!
   
2. Not leaving literature at every door.  My information cards were meant to be handed out personally.  They should have had holes punched in them for rubber bands so that they could be hung from doorknobs.  My opponent did that with his flyers.  Therefore every time I visited a home where no one answered the door, I missed the opportunity to leave at least something describing how to get in touch with me.
3. Not visiting every neighborhood.  That's another biggie.  I figure that I knocked on about 50% of the doors of regular voters.  I got a good reception from those I met; but I completely missed a large portion of the electorate.
4. Not going door-knocking every day.  Sure, the weather was bad some days; but other days it was perfectly fine...and I stayed at home.  Next time I'll lay out a schedule and a map for visiting each and every neighborhood.
5. Revealing my party affiliation.  There were several people that asked if I was a Republican or a Democrat.  I always replied that it was a non-partisan position, but I also always answered that I'm a libertarian.  I don't think that that helped me.
6. Answering political questions.  One lady I'll never forget: she asked me what my views were on abortion.  I should never have answered or I should have emphasized that aldermen have absolutely no say in those sorts of issues.  At least I could have asked what she thought first.
7. Not asking more people for donations.  I spent a total of $1000, of which $700 was my own money.  I'm not complaining, but there were times during the campaign when I wondered what the heck I was spending so much money for.
8. Not getting yard signs out fast enough.  Between myself and a couple others, we put up about two dozen more signs during the final weekend.  I think that signs should be up for weeks before the election, not just a day or two before. I got a good number up very early on, but then there was a lull.  That "good number" should have been much greater.

I lost by just 22 votes.  I'm pretty sure that my opponent didn't work as hard as he could have, either; but that doesn't excuse me.

As I said, there's no substitute for experience.  I am now confident that I know exactly what it takes.  I also greatly enjoyed the campaign as it progressed and I got more and more charged up.  At the end I had loads of energy I never knew I had.

I recommend running for office.  Knocking on doors and meeting people is a great experience.  And having a 49% vote total against somebody who's been a city leader and volunteer for decades is pretty heartening.

I can't wait to do it again!

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