I’ve been busy on the campaign trail, and since then, white hairs have tripled. This has to be easier the second time around. I’ve been moving from event to event, speaking to elected officials, and putting my best foot forward. My body’s acclimated to going to one or more events every night, 5-7 nights a week. This is more intense than business development for i5labs.
Up to this point, the endorsement process has been, by far, the most nerve-wracking part of the campaign. On, the other hand, I just started fundraising... Public speaking, researching issues, speaking to people who will be willing to put in a good word for you are all elements of the endorsement process.
Endorsements comes at two levels, personal and organizational. Receiving a personal endorsements requires either knowing the person who you’re asking for to endorse you, or have people who you’ve worked with speak for you, so that they know you’re solid..
Club endorsement are much more intense. There’s a getting to know you process which ranges from a 1 minute speech to a 15 minute interview process. Some clubs make you visit their endorsement committee, and then speak in front of the membership itself. Most of the times, they’re preceeded by a questionnaire which asks for your positions – for example, the Chinese American Democratic Club, will ask about neighborhood schools. By far, the most interesting survey has been the Harvey Milk Democratic Club had a 6 page questionnaire and a 49 Yes/No question sheet. Research helps (Thank you, Google), and knowing the board members of ALL the clubs will do the most good (there’s over 50 out there, and 20 on each side of the city that endorse – so this task is impossible, unless you’re Mary Jung or Jane Morrison). It’s a considerable time investment, and I’ve spent at least 3/4 of my nights working on endorsements.
Receiving these endorsements allow you to a. use their name b. be on a slate card. A slate card is a piece of political mail, sent to anywhere from 10,000 to 50,000 households, depending on target audience, and how much they can / want to raise. The cost is spread around all of the endorsed candidates, and may cost each candidate several hundred dollars to a couple thousand dollars, and covers the the print and mailing process. When you get 10-15 endorsements, it means you need to raise 7k-10k. That part sucks.
To make a long story short, I received the the endorsements of Nancy Pelosi, Tom Lantos, Leland Yee, Fiona Ma, Mayor Gavin Newsom, many of the members of the SFDCCC, as well as many clubs (including being named the Franklin Delano Roosevelt 12th AD Young Democrat of the Year!). I’m proud that the full list of endorsements is getting a bit lengthy ;-).