Keene City Council

[Soundwave]

So, I filed for Keene City Council a few weeks ago, and so far (filing registration ends Monday) I'm in one of only two competitions, with the other seats unopposed. I am starting to plan my campaign now, and am seeking advice from anyone who feels like sharing, especially people who have worked on local campaigns. I've already been outed by Fred Parsells (Current Keene City Council member, voted yes on the super expensive, yet highly opposed traffic circles here in Keene) as an EVIL FREESTATER ANARCHIST via email, and he mentioned me on his radio show this morning.

Where should I start? How should I respond to Fred and people like him? I must admit, this is exactly why I don't want to run, but I feel like this is what he's trying to do, so I am not letting him get to me.

I received this survey in the mail:

1. Why are you running for political office in the City of Keene?
2. What do you feel are the most pressing issues facing the City at the time?
3. Do you think the City should try to attract more industry to the area and if so, what do you think would be the best way to do this?
4. Where should the City look to scale back its spending and take a more conservative approach?
5. What qualities do you possess that would be an asset in this position?
6. What is your assessment of the economy in Keene, and what (if anything) should be done to stimulate economic well being?
7. How will you make yourself available to your constituents?

I am not asking anyone to answer these questions, I am writing up my own answers as we speak, but if anyone has any advice on these, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance. 

[Lloyd Danforth]

"Where should I start? How should I respond to Fred and people like him?"

Don't.  Just meet with likely constituents and let them judge judge you firsthand.  I've always thought that, particularly, in the areas of property taxes you can get support from old folks.

[TackleTheWorld]

Your opponent is afraid of you.  I'd be as bright and amusing as possible to contrast his dark emotions.  What I'd keep in mind is his pitiful state of mind.  Good gravy, if he's afraid of me, he is one sad example of humanity.  If you make a mistake, don't apologize or cringe.  You can bury this guy with your pleasant certainty.

[Nat F]

I've run for budget committee in Merrimack (missed by 17 votes) so my advice is based what I think I did wrong and how I'd change my approach if I ran again for local office.  My biggest mistake was simple - I did not do enough leg work.  I answered the local papers' questionares, bought some signs and stuck them in a few people's yards.  That was no where near enough.  I needed to actively solicit more people to place signs, to write letters to the editors, and then I needed to introduce myself to more local people.

I thought my name recognition (limited to "that guy who runs the local web forum" and someone who speaks at meetings once in awhile) would be enough to get me through a race with multiple seats.   It wasn't.  No matter how introverted you are you need to canvass the voters in your area.  Offer to speak to groups who might be interested, introduce yourself to townfolk and make your presence known (in a good light or at least neutral light) locally.

One other thing that seems to come up is the need to "pay your dues".  A number of locals mentioned that I should have volunteered on appointed committees before running for an elected position.  It's not really applicable now, but a lot of the "townies" seem to feel that way.

-Nat

[FTL_Ian]

Your opponent is afraid of you.  I'd be as bright and amusing as possible to contrast his dark emotions.  What I'd keep in mind is his pitiful state of mind.  Good gravy, if he's afraid of me, he is one sad example of humanity.  If you make a mistake, don't apologize or cringe.  You can bury this guy with your pleasant certainty.

Point of clarification: Fred Parsells, while definitely afraid of our ideas, is not Julia's opponent.  Kendall W. Lane is her opponent.  All we know about him for the moment is that he voted against the roundabout (good thing).

[d_goddard]

No matter how introverted you are you need to canvass the voters in your area.

What he said, plus the caveat:
No matter how it feels at rush hour, not every voter in Keene comes to Panera Bread.

[Nat F]

Oh, what sort of things does one say when going door to door besides the obvious "Hello, my name is Julia Miranda, and I'm running for city council in your ward."?

I don't know.  It seems like elections are as much a popularity or recognition contest as much as an issue based race.  That means a script like [hello I'm ...], [lower taxes or other issue] [thanks, vote for me] should work fairly well without intruding too much on their time.  I would expect to tailor the message to the neighborhood, but generally touch on the popular issues like taxes and wasteful spending where your strengths mix well with their interests.  Mayor Guinta at today's MVP meeting gave a decent example of an open ended soft pitch that will go over well with most demographics without really committing to much while still focusing on general liberty and lower taxes.  As much as I hate to say it I doubt a FTL like (ie free marketeer pitch) approach will be the best way to get votes, but a toned down version should garner interest and votes.

-Nat

[d_goddard]

Oh, what sort of things does one say when going door to door besides the obvious "Hello, my name is Julia Miranda, and I'm running for city council in your ward."?

That's a damn fine start.
Have a flyer to hand to people. Just a few bullet points.

[Lloyd Danforth]

You need to develop a platform based on your solutions to problems that exist in Keene.  You could tailor your opening depending on who answers the door.  Older people: Property Taxes and handouts to people other than themselves. A lot of them vote. Middle aged like you parents: Crappy schools! (You have solutions) and handouts to people other than themselves.  Younger people: Anti-Authoritarian "The Keene Government is trying to run our lives just like the Bush government with their war and they're probably gonna have a draft.  Too many Keene Cops!"

Doesn't always need to make sense

[SethCohn]

[Warning -the following post contains political advice.  I feel dirty posting it here on the Underground, but Julia asked...]

Julia, here's some pointers, based on my real-world experiences running for School Board (a city-wide race in Concord) where I spent days and weeks doing the below... with good results, though not a win, but placed 6th of 9 people running for 3 seats, despite the unions and Concord Monitor being negative toward me, in Concord, a heavily Democratic town):

1) Yes, going door to door is _very_ important.

2) Have palm-cards (small flyers, 1/4 of a page, or 1/2 page at most), rather than full flyers.  Saves money, and forces you to be brief and use bullet points, not essays.  Bright colors help, even if it's black print - use a yellow or pink or blue (etc) paper.

3) Have signs.  Signs win elections.  Plain and Simple: if your name is visible, and people see lots of signs, they are more willing to vote for you, since you are credible and serious.

4) When you walk up to a door, always hold a sign (or 3) in one arm.  Have palm cards handy too, ready to hand to the person... but having a sign is important - See #7

5) Introduce yourself. "Hello, my name is Julia Miranda, and I'm running for city council in your ward."  Then list 1-2 major issues that you plan on doing something about - simple and brief.  They should be bullets on your palm card.   Lloyd's right about tailoring it based on who answers - that is important.  Hand them a palm card while you do this... most will accept it, and look at it while you are answering - so you want it to say the same things - your name, office, issues.  Simple and easy to read and professional.

6) Ask _them_ what issues they want to see fixed...  NO arguments.  If you disagree, keep your mouth shut, politely nod, and thank them for their answer, and then tell them you'll look into the issue, and get more informed about it.  If you agree, tell them so.

7) If you get good vibes and agreement from them, and their house/property is well placed for visible traffic, ask them if you can put a sign up. (hold up the signs you are holding... as an example)  You won't always get a Yes, even from people who support you otherwise, but you will get a decent amount of them - the key is to ASK with a sign nearby in your hands...

Aim for having 2-3 signs grouped together, neighbors or along a road (a cluster is more impressive than a single sign, but even a single sign helps - and having a sign every few hundred feet gives a strong impression to those who have never heard of you before...)

9) if nobody is home, LEAVE a palmcard tucked into the door.  You cannot leave them in mailboxes, but you can leave them in door cracks, newspaper holders, etc.

10) By listening to the people and what they care about, you will likely find new issues you might not know much about, or have a strong opinion on...  but your job: LISTEN.  Find out more afterward, so the next person who asks you what you think about the issue will see you understand it and are aware of it, even if you don't know what you'd do yet.  Knowledge will get you respect, respect gets you votes.

11 and 12) the most important - worth 2 points - ASK FOR THEIR VOTE.  No matter what the exchange you have with people, unless it's really negative to your hello/issues, always end your conversation with "The election is on (date), and I'd be grateful if you'd vote for me" or something along those lines.  The key is ask them to vote for you - always ASK for the vote.  This seems weird, but it works.  You will get lots of people to vote for you merely by asking them to...   Day of the election, it's your job to spend all day doing _just_ that: standing outside the polls, and _re_asking them to vote for you.

13) If you have friends helping with signs/door2door/etc, same goes for them... Be polite, on target, no arguing, and ASK for the vote "Julia would appreciate if you would vote for her on XXXX"    Having a team approach helps too - you plus 2 people, means you and one person go door to door, they can call you over if the person wants to meet you, and the 3rd person drives and puts up all the signs (you signal as you leave that they approved a sign, so they are doing it while you talk to the next house)

14) Dress should be casual but professional.  You should be dressed as if you were going to be sitting in on a Council meeting on TV - first impressions matter.  Same for helpers.

Call or email me if you want more advice, glad to help...

[We now return you to your seth-free nhfree, already in progress.  My apologies for posting this sort of ugly content here, folks.]

[Pat K]

Nice to see ya Seth. 

[Vote Tyler Stearns]

I wrote this in an earlier thread Julia...but, I'll reiterate what we learned when Tyler ran for State Rep.

The most important thing you can do is door-to-door.  Even if you think people know you, they may not connect that you're the Julia that's running for City Council. 

Tyler is quiet and reserved and was very nervous when he first started campaigning door-to-door, but he got more comfortable with each house he visited.  He tried sending out crews of door knockers.  But, people wanted to meet Tyler, not someone campaigning for him.  As exhausting as it might be, YOU need to do the door knocking, although it's always more fun if someone's with you.

Visit the "good voters."  It doesn't matter if you think you can appeal more to a younger, hipper, anarchist-type crowd.  If they don't have a history of voting, then statistically you're not going to pick-up a lot of votes.  I assume your time and budget is limited.  Focus on those good voters that you KNOW will be going to the polls.  When Tyler campaigned, he got a copy of the checklist -- not the one that shows who the registered voters are -- but the official checklist following the last two elections.  We then focused on those registered voters who actually voted in the prior two elections, and Tyler and his crew went knocking on their doors, sent hand addressed letters to them, and made phone calls.  In the letters we solicited donations and stressed that no amount was too small.  Tyler pulled in a good junk of change that way (some donations were as little as $5). 

Tyler hosted several meet-the-candidate coffee hours at a couple of places that locals gather at.  We publicized these heavily through press releases to the local newspaper and flyers and when door knocking.  They weren't well attended, but we'd hear from people that they'd seen the newspaper article or poster.

Tyler had a professional photographer take a head shot, which we used in all of Tyler's campaign material. 

Create a professional-looking website.  Put your web address on every piece of literature you create, including your envelopes and letterhead and in every press release you send out.  People may not want to give you more than a minute when you knock at their door, but when they take your palm card inside, you can bet they'll check you out on the web. 

Solicit email addresses from everyone you meet.  Create a database on Constant Contact, or something like that, and send periodic email blasts to your list. 

Tyler attended every local political event he could, even if it was for an opposing political party or candidate.  At one political fundraiser for a Democratic state senate candidate, a presidential contender showed up.  I listened as a reporter from the Citizen interviewed the presidential contender.  When the reporter was done, I chased him down and chatted him up about Tyler. When the reporter's article came out, it featured a bit on Tyler. 

I also wrote lots of press releases about Tyler - always trying to pitch a different type of story (17-year-old running for state rep...candidate for state rep appears on panel of young politicians at Saint Anselm, etc.).  Every single one of the releases got picked up verbatim in the local newspapers AND the Laconia Citizen twice sent reporters to interview him for articles, and the Concord Monitor did a feature story on him.  Moral of this story...cultivate a relationship with the local press (as distasteful as it may be).

Practice your speaking in front of a mirror, via role playing, tape yourself...whatever.  It will help you hone your message and become more comfortable delivering it.

I bet your opponent will make an issue of your age/maturity/experience and anarchist views.  Tyler battled the age and lack of experience issue throughout his campaign.  Even though he's pretty mature looking, he always dressed as professionally as possible whenever he went out campaigning (wearing a shirt & tie).  He cultivated relationships with respected members of our community, and he worked the crowds, so to speak, whenever we went out for dinner at a local restaurant, or went to the gas station, grocery store, etc. 

Good luck, Julia!

[FTL_Ian]

Julia, how can supporters send you MONEY?!  Or are you not accepting donations so that you don't have to deal with the FEC crap?  Let us know. 

By Paypal:
http://contribute.freekeene.com

Other options are available as well.

Also, out of curiosity, which political party are you running with?

Nonpartisan municipal election!  Julia is registered as Undeclared.

[KBCraig]

I'm pretty sure the FEC doesn't cover city council races.

[Dreepa]

Great points Seth (this should be a PDF somewhere along with advice from Matt S, Denis, Irena, etc)

I would start and LTE campaing.  Have N number of volunteers and then every week of so have one of the send a letter in.  Short and sweet.

Kick butt!
When is the election?