Will Somebody Please Just Do A Cookbook?

In the heady days after Larry decided to run for HD 122, we were giving little thought to a campaign strategy. We were trying to set up this blogsite, get a website up, inform family and friends of our foolish decision, and generally get used to the idea. Well, we found out in politics, there is no time to get used to the idea. You've got to register with the Texas Ethics Commission, for one thing. This was a line thrown out, almost as an aside, by Zada True-Courage shortly after she signed Larry on the dotted line (Larry's word is his bond). It was followed by the phrase, "...so you can start taking money". My experience political up to that moment had been as the giver, not the givee, so that caught me up a bit short. I thought that since this was Texas, registering with the Texas Ethics Commission should be, well, not onerous. It hasn't been for me, just for Treasurer Terry. Texas or not, there are folks up in Austin who actually want to see where the campaign gets and spends its money.

Registering doesn't bring dollars to your door, though. Enough said.

After a while, you figure out that you are supposed to actually do stuff to try to get elected, at least of you are not Frank Corte. (Hell, even W has to actually get off his bike, put on a tie, and wave at folks. He even has to read a teleprompTer now and then.) But what stuff to do?

I was fortunate enough to attend a DFT training late last year that helped clarify the roles of tactics, message, and organization somewhat. For dessert, we got to listen to Glenn Maxey's war stories late into the night, and that even helped me understand how to begin thinking about a real campaign. But how does a baby candidate figure out how to actually do the nuts and bolts of running for office, and cannot afford to hire Glenn Maxie or even one of the bright young things graduating Trinity with their idealism intact, student loans that intrude on their young lives with the speed of light, and a laptop?

I was relieved today to learn that even smart people who write books about politics found that they did not know the answer. They set out to figure this stuff out all over again, and share it with baby candidates like us. Of course, they do it for candidates in the state of Massachusetts, not Texas.

Now is the time for some of those bright Trinity kids to actually write a cookbook on how to get elected in Texas - yes, a cookbook, a "take an egg and break it, putting the contents in a bowl and throwing away the hard white shell" kind of cookbook. A cookbook with descriptions of offices, requirements for running for them, how many petitions signatures are needed to get on the ballot without paying a filing fee, demographic information, filing requirements, how to decide on a strategy for winning and how to make tactical decisions, the qualities of a good campaign staff, how long it takes to leaflet x number of houses - just really simple stuff like that.

In the meantime, Candidate Larry keeps plugging along every day, going to work by day to pay our mortgage, and then going to work for the folks of HD 122 by night. And that is why we are trying to run a credible campaign - to make Texas a better place for everybody, starting with HD 122.

But right now? Well, the campaign, in the form of yours truly, is going to empty the campaign coffers to pay for - are you ready for this? - our pushcards, that are finally ready to be picked up.