I was reminded Monday that; an election especially at a more local level boils down to the Candidate first and then the message.
Another way of saying that is, if a Candidate cannot communicate his or her message the message will not matter. The Candidate will not matter.
Politics as they say is personal. You have to get personal to get your message across. Candidates are the personality of any campaign; they become the face of the message.
As I meet and talk with candidates from around the “five Counties”, I appreciate a candidate that seems to know his or her mind and is able to communicate that to others. A John McCain vs a John Kennedy, or a Reagan vs. a Dukakis. All may have good messages, but when two of them talked it was the time to hit the refrig for snacks so you could enjoy listening to the other two.
Monday I met with the Candidate for the 101st state house district, Ray Franz. His campaign manager Jennifer Smeltzer was there with him. While Ray Franz may not be a Reagan or a Kennedy I did not feel like getting up and running to the fridge. We had a great political discussion and I learned a lot not just about Mr. Franz but the whole political layout of the 101st which includes Manistee, Benzie and Leelanau counties.
Our talked ranged from the active Ludington Tea Party group and an active Women Republican group in Mason County; to the 2008 election and how the 2010 election will be different. We talked about his experiance and this cut an paste below from his web site pretty much sums up his experiance in politics and the ability to get things done.
I served on the Onekama Village Council for 29 years; the last six as Village President. During my tenure I made getting results a top priority. We cut taxes by 50%, paid off bonds 12 to 30 years early, and established a road re-surfacing program. When I left, there was approximately two years' of fund equity in our account balances. I want to take that drive and determination to Lansing.
Our meeting was for the purpose of having an interview later with him for Bottom Up Politics. I find I can research my questions better once I personally get to know the candidate. I am hoping to get the interview published sometime in January after the holidays.
While Ray has never held state office, he ran for the 101st and lost last time. From that, he seems to have a handle on the process of how to run an election and who to see and talk with; in short how to communicate his message to the most people. Ray said he has learned the ins and outs of campaigning. I gave him a couple tough questions and he fielded them well and believably. He’s been there before and done that.
Perhaps the best reward from not winning the last time was the knowledge of what he can do differently this time to pull out a victory. While stating the obvious that this is an off year election and that the “Obama Wave” effect won’t come into play nearly as much as in 2008; Mr. Franz is realistic enough to admit that there is a lot of hard work ahead of him. The work he says will come in the fact that he will be trying to unseat an incumbent.
The main work will be to get the base out on an off year election. As I brought up the whole “Tea Party” thing as helping him to do that, he agreed; but it was obvious to me that he knew that he had to work to get their vote as well as everyone else’s in order to pull off a win. It was as always, refreshing to talk with a candidate that was sure enough of himself and his plan to talk freely about his campaign.
It was nice to hear some plain talk; not the usual political hack stuff.
Another positive was that there seems to be no serious Republican contender at this point. I will keep in touch with Ray to keep my readers at Bottom Up Politics up to date on this campaign. I am feeling that this swing district could swing back Red from Blue this time around. The polls show the 101st to be a slight 3-4% Republican leaning district. Ray Franz communicated his confidence to me that he knows what to do and is willing to spend the time and money to flip the Mi. House 101st seat back to the Republican Caucus.
The mood is in the air.
I believe him. This time around the Candidate will carry the message and the people will listen.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
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