The primary election is done and we survived to fight another day. We accomplished the win without a lot of help. If we are to vanquish the opposition in the general election, we will need an organization to help with fund raising and “in the trenches” campaigning. Everyone knows that in politics, Cash is King! For the general election we will need to match the competition.
For the primary, we spent about $11,000. In the process, we learned that mail pieces cost a bunch. For the one mailing we did, we spent over $7,000 to send out 11,000 pieces. That works out to $.63 per piece. Campaign signs cost $5 by the time they are in the ground. We haven’t gotten to the cost of larger signs since we didn’t have any money for them, but I suspect they will be a ton. Anyone interested in contributing to my campaign by credit card, we can accept contributions at our web site; www.stevedana.us .
Typically primary elections are funded with vanity contributions from friends and family members who are excited about having a candidate in a race. Even when the candidate has no chance, the process of an election is a life changing experience. I have struggled with the thought that I was in one of those vanity campaigns where I was running just to say that I did it without a real expectation of winning. There is so much to do and no resources to do it with.
My support group in the campaign is mostly my family and friends that have been committed to Noreen and me in every endeavor we have ever undertaken. Win or lose in this election, I am a winner because of the faith those people have in me.
My friend Jim Mitchell told me recently that an election is the ultimate popularity contest. He said that I should spend less time talking about the issues and spend more time being likable. That may have been great advice during prosperous times, but when people are afraid about the future, sticking to business feels more comfortable to me. I want people to know that I am apprehensive about the future too and that I am committed to government not making things worse.
I knew this project was a huge challenge when I got into the race last winter, but I really hadn’t thought about how huge it could be. Let me tell you, it’s overwhelming.
As a former city council member, I had to campaign in eight precincts to get elected. The fifth council district is 157 precincts. For the primary, I door-belled in 14 precincts. For the most part, I worked by myself. My friend Paul Cowles, the former mayor of Bothell came out a few nights to help and I really appreciated his help. We will have to do much better in the general election if we have any expectation of winning. Representative Mike Hope can attest to the importance of personal outreach in the neighborhoods. His win last year was anchored by a serious door-belling effort. Maybe Mike will coach me.
My family and friends got together last night to celebrate, but we all knew the festivities should not carry on too long, there is too much work to do.
For the next ten weeks, we will have to do much better than we’ve done so far. We don’t have a well oiled machine running our campaign like some candidates. We don’t even have a broken down machine. We don’t have a machine at all. We need a machine.
Anyone interested in being a part of a machine working to elect Steve Dana to the Snohomish County Council contact me through my email address sdforscc@live.com or call my campaign phone number 425-327-5948. Then of course you can always contact me at The HUB in Snohomish (928 Avenue D is our address). I would appreciate all the help I can get.
Posted on August 23, 2009 at 9:30 am in Partisan Politics, Snohomish County Council, Snohomish County Political Commentary, Steve Dana Issues | RSS feed
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No Loss for Words
Fight Another Day
by Steve DanaThe primary election is done and we survived to fight another day. We accomplished the win without a lot of help. If we are to vanquish the opposition in the general election, we will need an organization to help with fund raising and “in the trenches” campaigning. Everyone knows that in politics, Cash is King! For the general election we will need to match the competition.
For the primary, we spent about $11,000. In the process, we learned that mail pieces cost a bunch. For the one mailing we did, we spent over $7,000 to send out 11,000 pieces. That works out to $.63 per piece. Campaign signs cost $5 by the time they are in the ground. We haven’t gotten to the cost of larger signs since we didn’t have any money for them, but I suspect they will be a ton. Anyone interested in contributing to my campaign by credit card, we can accept contributions at our web site; www.stevedana.us .
Typically primary elections are funded with vanity contributions from friends and family members who are excited about having a candidate in a race. Even when the candidate has no chance, the process of an election is a life changing experience. I have struggled with the thought that I was in one of those vanity campaigns where I was running just to say that I did it without a real expectation of winning. There is so much to do and no resources to do it with.
My support group in the campaign is mostly my family and friends that have been committed to Noreen and me in every endeavor we have ever undertaken. Win or lose in this election, I am a winner because of the faith those people have in me.
My friend Jim Mitchell told me recently that an election is the ultimate popularity contest. He said that I should spend less time talking about the issues and spend more time being likable. That may have been great advice during prosperous times, but when people are afraid about the future, sticking to business feels more comfortable to me. I want people to know that I am apprehensive about the future too and that I am committed to government not making things worse.
I knew this project was a huge challenge when I got into the race last winter, but I really hadn’t thought about how huge it could be. Let me tell you, it’s overwhelming.
As a former city council member, I had to campaign in eight precincts to get elected. The fifth council district is 157 precincts. For the primary, I door-belled in 14 precincts. For the most part, I worked by myself. My friend Paul Cowles, the former mayor of Bothell came out a few nights to help and I really appreciated his help. We will have to do much better in the general election if we have any expectation of winning. Representative Mike Hope can attest to the importance of personal outreach in the neighborhoods. His win last year was anchored by a serious door-belling effort. Maybe Mike will coach me.
My family and friends got together last night to celebrate, but we all knew the festivities should not carry on too long, there is too much work to do.
For the next ten weeks, we will have to do much better than we’ve done so far. We don’t have a well oiled machine running our campaign like some candidates. We don’t even have a broken down machine. We don’t have a machine at all. We need a machine.
Anyone interested in being a part of a machine working to elect Steve Dana to the Snohomish County Council contact me through my email address sdforscc@live.com or call my campaign phone number 425-327-5948. Then of course you can always contact me at The HUB in Snohomish (928 Avenue D is our address). I would appreciate all the help I can get.
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Posted on August 23, 2009 at 9:30 am in Partisan Politics, Snohomish County Council, Snohomish County Political Commentary, Steve Dana Issues | RSS feed | Reply | Trackback URL