Why I lost the election

Why

What motivated me to write this entry was a patron of The Spot asked me a few weeks ago why I did not get elected to City Council in the March election.  He had been drinking. And so had I.  The answer to his questioned seemed so obvious to me.  I told him, being a serious as I could, "the other folks running against me received more votes than I did".

He laughed and so did I. 
Then he said 'really, why didn't you win'.


Really

About twenty percent of the eligible voters voted in that March 2010 election, that worked out to about eight hundred voters showing up at the polls.  Of the eight hundred, or so, folks that showed up, twenty-five percent of them voted for me.  Not bad.  But to win I needed fifty percent to vote for me.The biggest problem was name recognition.  Sure I had signs out, stickers stuck on a few cars, signs in a few downtown businesses, but other than customers of the Spot, no-one who was eligible to vote knew who I was.

In this election there was no televised debate (not that anyone would have watched it).  As a matter of fact there was no debate at all.  There was a twenty minute radio interview and the newspaper printed  answers to some questions that the paper asked all the candidates. And of course, nobody listened to the radio show, or read the newspaper article. There was no effective way for a newcomer to get their name recognized.  And that is true of any newcomer.

The best way to have a shot at being elected to City Council is to hang your hat on someone who has name recognition.  If I would have sat down and focused on getting other council members, who already have name recognition, to support me I would of had a chance.

We were electing four council members in this election.  So as a voter, each one of us could cast four votes.  Well, most voters, generally speaking, personally knows one person that is running for one of the open positions.  The other three candidates that the voter votes on are recommendations from the candidate they already know!  In other words, people who did know me would come up to me and say 'I am voting for you, but who else should I vote for?'

BINGO!

That is the trick...to get more votes that the other guy.

Thanks for your support, see you in about twenty months!