October, 2003
Primary thoughts
Way back in January, when I first thought about asking for your vote, a friend offered this advice: think of an election as a marathon.
I didn’t understand what he meant – not in February, not in April, and not even in June. I think. The months sort of blur together …
I think it was by July that old friends were asking whatever had become of me. Running for office is incredibly absorbing, but I mean that in a good way. You plan fundraisers, you plan for signs and campaign literature and ads, you write letters and brochures and thank you notes, you take photos in hopes of finding one where you look as good as nature allows - and in this town, you doorbell: you knock on doors and ask for votes. And that’s how I have been spending weekend afternoons and many other times.
I am not complaining. I chose this path. And I have had a blast – meeting many of you, talking heart to heart. Of course, my favorite moment was when I knocked on the door of someone who is not a registered voter. The gent came to the door wrapped in his bath towel, shaving cream on his face, and holding his razor.
“Hi, I’m running for Lakewood City Council. How is the city treating you?”
Silence. Show brochure.
“Can I leave this with you?”
Silence. He did not move. That’s good, of course, because I was really hoping he would not drop the bath towel. I left, thankful that the towel has stayed on, and also reasonably informed: this was not a resident particularly concerned with public affairs. Very few people have refused the brochure – those who have did not want to speak with me at all, and probably assumed I was going to try to sell them a new roof.
I have met so many and heard so many stories. People who lost loved ones, people who got tickets from those cameras, people who were burglarized and robbed, people who hate sidewalks and people who love sidewalks. Everyone should run for City Council, because it is fascinating. Everyone should run for City Council, but I am thankful you did not choose to do so this year and against me, because the race is Position 7 at least is being conducted at reasonable cost and with reasonable courtesy.
And so when the actual day of the primary arrived, I greeted the day with a sense of disbelief. Surely this could not be it. The sky looked the same. The air felt the same. And when it got to be time for the auditor to post the results online, I stared at the computer. Did I want to know?
Thanks to you, I did want to know. We won almost half the vote in the primary from a field of three, and I thank you for that. Interestingly, the ‘write-ins” got almost 1 percent of the vote (the county does not announce who received write-in votes, but I figure it was probably a campaign for Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was covering his bases before the California vote came in)
I failed to explain myself well enough to some people, and they did not vote for me. So it goes. I can only try hard to educate, and to explain. But I thank those of you who did vote for me. I am humbled – and grateful.
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