When I ran . . .
By Kim Hynes
Posted on Tue Feb 05, 2008 at 11:19:03 AM EST
In 2004, inspired by Howard Dean's amazing campaign, I ran for State Representative in Connecticut's 149th assembly district. I had never been involved in politics to any great extent before Governor Dean's Presidential bid, and yet when I got interested in politics, I fell hard. Initially a complete political novice, I ended up running the house party program in Connecticut for Dean, and served on the Dean for CT steering committee. When he ended his campaign, Governor Dean asked his supporters to run for office. My husband looked into the races in our area, and found the State Rep seat in our district had been unopposed for almost 10 years. So I threw my hat in the ring.
I quickly found that running for office is time intensive and exhausting - but surprisingly not that difficult, with one exception. That exception was fundraising. I had all sorts of help in terms of strategy and campaign advice. There were free campaign trainings available in Connecticut, and I had a very helpful mentor in the legislature. Volunteers from the Dean campaign in Connecticut were generous with their time and helped me out a great deal. I had all the pieces in place - except the money. I am naturally a pretty shy and reserved person, and it was very very difficult for me to call people and ask for their money. Intellectually I understood that the money wasn't for me personally, but it was still very very difficult for me to make those calls. As well, I was fairly unknown in the district except among the local grassroots community (who unfortunately were not wealthy enough to fund my campaign). I tried my college alumni list which produced some results, and raised some money over the internet. It was a struggle to get past about $5000. My opponent, meanwhile, a well liked incumbent, had no trouble raising almost $40,000 in the blink of an eye. I was extremely fortunate in that Governor Dean ended up coming to my house to host a fundraiser for me, and we ended up raising about $9000 total - enough for a couple mailings and some lawn signs.
Because I was outspent by such a great amount, I ended up campaigning hard, meeting as many people in person as possible, and speaking at as many events as I could. We had a couple debates that people flocked to . It is an amazing thing when debates for a State Rep seat are crowded. After nearly 10 years of silence, people were hungry for debate and any discussion of the issues. I was amazed by how much the ordinary citizen cared, and how excited people got when they found out someone was listening! Still, there were times I could have been out talking to voters and instead I had to take hours out of the day for the dreaded "dialing for dollars". In spite of this, I managed to garner about 40% of the vote. I found that people were excited about having a choice, and even in a district which leaned heavily toward the other party, I made great strides. Still, it wasn't nearly enough to win the race. There are so many what ifs. The largest one - what if I had had the money to level the playing field and really compete with my opponent? What if I could have spent more time meeting voters and talking about the issues? It could have been much closer. Perhaps I could have even won.
The bottom line is that voters like having a choice. Unopposed races contribute to voter apathy and a sense that nothing can be changed. The elimination of choice removes power from the people. Common Cause has been instrumental in restoring power and possibility to the people. State candidates no longer have to struggle with endless fund raising and can concentrate on what politics is supposed to be all about - the issues. With the Citizens Elections Program, incumbents and challengers alike can focus on what they are supposed to - getting to know the voters and debating the issues.
Tags: Citizens Election Program, State Rep, campaign, in the states, connecticut, money in politics, fundraising (all tags)
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