Good morning, Daily Kos community. I have a question. I'm curious to know if there would be any interest to read an intermittent diary covering an insider's view of an election campaign for the office of mayor in a small southern city. Just in case the title didn't make it obvious enough, I'm the candidate. A little history can be found below the squiggle.
I'm running for mayor of my town. I'm not totally inexperienced in this matter, in that I ran four years ago and missed the runoff by 45 votes (out of a total of about 2600 cast). The gentleman who finished ahead of me went on to win the runoff election over the first place finisher. I've also served four years as a city councilman. I've been on numerous community boards, I'm a small business owner, participate in the school system's advisory committees and so forth. I've done most of the things that people do when they run for political office.
But the true reason that I'm running is that at heart, I'm an idealist. I deeply care about my community. I care about the place that I'm raising my kids. I really want to make this a better place. For me, those are not empty campaign slogans that candidates are trained to repeat ad nauseam. Having served within a real, functioning government, I've seen up close how ideals can quickly be perverted, arrogance and cynicism set in and harden, disrespect for your constituents color your every action. There is a good reason why so many people are turned off toward the system. It's because much of what they believe about that process is true.
That being said, don't get me wrong. There are still a lot of very good folks working very hard on the inside who still do the right thing and still make a difference in a lot of people's lives. I'd like to be one of them again. In the coming weeks, I'd like to discuss some of these issues that candidates are confronted with while trying to make decisions that will hopefully move your candidacy forward, maintain one's integrity and gain you as many votes as possible while losing as few as possible. Politics in this country is a unique business. It will be my goal to share with you my experiences to the greatest degree that I will be able, within the context of an active campaign. I may not always be able to share certain information for obvious reasons, but I will always strive to be forthright and honest.