As many of you know, I have been planning an announcement for today at Noon. As that time has now arrived, here is the big news.
I am officially entering the 2006 race for United States House Of Representatives in Ohio's 16th District.
For most of you, this comes as no surprise. I often said during 2004's campaign that you can never stop the fight until the fight has been won. Neither victory nor defeat would have ended the fight, so my candidacy for 2006 was inevitable.
Let's get the campaign business out of the way here....
I will be posting updates and information at
my new blog.
Contributions for my 2006 campaign can be made online at my website. Those who prefer to send a check may do so - The address is
Jeff Seemann For Congress '06
5526 12th Street NW
Canton, Ohio 44709
In 2004, my campaign made a mark with extensive use of the internet and the blogosphere. Let's be honest, without the internet, the campaign would have never been anywhere close to the levels of success it found. My new campaign will again incorporate as much of the internet community as possible.
Will we again allow the blogosphere to manage my campaign for a day? Of course, but there will be so much more. This resource has barely been used by campaigns, and we intend to take the next step and open up as many possibilities as we can envision.
In 2004, we know we made a lot of mistakes. The beauty of running a second campaign is that we now know how to avoid those mistakes. Sure, we know that no campaign can be perfect, but we will avoid the pitfalls that came at us in '04.
For example, I believe my two biggest problems were that we had no name recognition and that we started campaigning too late.
One of those problems was resolved on November 2nd. We received over 101,000 votes, and coupling that with a nationwide media paying attention to us, we have now captured the name recognition lacking prior to November.
By starting today, March 1st, we will remedy the second problem. Our campaign hit the ground too late last year and we only had 7 months to win. Not enough time by any standards. As of today, we have 617 days before Decision '06. That IS enough
time.
Again, I ask for your help and your support. Dozens of you came to volunteer and work for my campaign in 2004, hundreds contributed financially, and thousands offered every ounce of advice and encouragement as possible. Keep it coming. We cannot win if we don't work together.
Finally, I'd like to point out that the decision to run in 2006 was made much easier by the selection of our new DNC Chairman, Howard Dean. I've never been a candidate who was afraid of his own opinions and neither is Chairman Dean.
With Howard Dean at the helm, our party will no longer be afraid to take on the Republicans where they need to be taken on....everywhere. We will no longer be afraid and we will no longer be intimidated by the bullies and distortions that come from the opposite side of the aisle.
Our party is changing. I'm proud to be a Democrat and soon I will be proud to be a Democratic Congressman.
Thnak you,
Jeff Seemann
www.Jeff06.com
Update [2005-3-1 17:42:9 by Jeff Seemann For Congress]: - Tim Tagaris has a GREAT post about this race. He says many things that need to be said. Go check out his comments at Swing State Project. Tim worked for my campaign in 2004 and now is behind the net-roots campaign of Chuck Pennacchio for US Senate. He knows what he's talking about, so please pay attention to his post.