Jason Wong

This week’s edition of Asian Week has a voter registration card enclosed. In fact, there are 44,400 voter registration cards floating in this week’s distribution, courtesy of AsianWeek, and the Asian Pacific Democratic Club (where I’m president).

This quarter’s Hyphen Magazine includes an ad from the APDC and voter registration cards as well. It should be hitting newstands and homes this week.

Finally, there will be a press conference with Asian candidates and elected officials across the City outside City Hall on Monday, August 15th at 2pm. Come. Have fun.

Moving 1,650 lbs of voter registration cards 4 flights of stairs from my office, to the truck, to the printing office (for folding), and then to another printing house (for insertion) is a gigantic pain in the ass. At 6:30AM. Ugh. I sleep now.

From the optimists at Capitol Weekly.

Is it wrong to still be a pessimist on this race? The Democrats stopped him cold on 73-77 and Schwarzenegger’s approvals are still in the low 30’s. What gets me down about this is that the Angelides-Westly polls swung 15 points from TV ADS, and Schwarzenegger owns the pulpit. I’ll need to see Schwarzenegger get nailed a couple times hard before I feel like the aura of invincibility has worn off.

It looks like I’ve passed Murlene Randall for 13th place, which means David Wong, Deputy Sheriff is still almost 2000 votes ahead of me. By the time all the votes are counted, I’ll have at least 10,000 votes.

Latest Updated Election Results

7. Loan Shark
6. Repo Man
5. Mortician
4. Falun Gong Member
3. Mud Wrestler
2. Tackle Dummy
1. Random Inanimate Object

First of all, thank YOU for supporting me. I could not have done this without your help. This has certainly been an incredible experience, and I can’t begin to tell you the mental agony and exhilaration that comes with campaigning. It’s awesome. Thank you.

I received 8,245 votes, taking 14th place. To take 13th, I would have needed 8,260 votes, or 16 additional votes. To overtake David Wong, who took the 12th spot and made the County Central Committee, I would have needed 1604 votes.

3 issues REALLY hurt me:

a. Ballot designation – businessman. Most people see only the name and ballot designation. I didn’t realize how badly this crippled me until I actually saw the physical ballot. Wow. Change it to small business owner, and I go from being “the man” to a pseudo underdog. That has to be worth anywhere from 200 to 1000 votes. Of the non-incumbents, I was defeated by a Neighborhood Outreach Director, a Teacher, a Deputy Sheriff, and a Labor Attorney.

b. Bay Guardian Endorsement – People argue over the value of this actual endorsement, but I believe it’s worth at least 3-5k votes. The Guardian is the progressive newspaper of the Bay Area. Many believe that in the conservative 12th AD, the value is negligible – but I disagree. If there’s any newspaper that’s looked at for endorsements, it’s the Guardian. Unless the Chronicle or Examiner counter it, people will see it as a “fair” source of news for progressive politics, and there are more in the 12th than you think.

One day, campaigning outside Lakeshore Elementary school, there were at least 4 parents (out of ~ 40 we talked to) who said they just voted the Guardian slate. If I’m right, it means that for non-incumbent positions, you’ll need the slate endorsements + the Bay Guardian endorsements to win in the future (assuming the endorse a decent number). Roy Recio picked up 6,167, with the Guardian endorsement, and some hard, retail campaigning. The three non-incumbents, Melanie Nutter, Trevor McNeil, and David Wong all won the Guardian endorsement, plus they had the endorsements of the moderates. The Guardian spoke to a couple people for recommendations on endorsements – they never spoke to candidates.

c. Labor / unions. This was suggested by Gabriel. I can’t actually calculate this, and it may or may not be as strong as the Guardian. Michael Theriault almost only had the support of labor, and received 6,634 votes. Melanie received Local 2, and I’m guessing Trevor and David Wong did as well. See reason a.

Many people thought I ran a good race, and I did everything I could knowing that I didn’t want to let any of you down. Near the end, though, I wasn’t feeling confident how the cards were playing themselves out. To win this race, you had to play as a progressive and a moderate.

Ok, enough strategy, let me tell you how I feel. Surprisingly good. A bit sad at times, but I’m not discouraged – I know exactly how I lost, and I can change parts of that. Next time, I’m going to spend more time in preparation. I entered this race late, and I have 100x the experience that I did at the beginning of this race. Yes, there’s going to be a next time. I’ve got some basic infrastructure pieces in place, and am going to add some additional pieces.

My friend and running mate Trevor said to me yesterday morning, “Do you realize you just voted for yourself? How cool is that?”

Incredibly fucking forking cool.

The final five day crunch is INTENSE. I’ve mobilized every volunteer to spread the word, and we’re distributing close to 1000 postcards a day. Start at 7 AM, end at 9PM.

There’s a bit of fear coursing through my veins, driving me forward in the final push. I’m seeing a fairly large spend from other opponents, and if there’s anything that’s definite, it’s that the SFDCCC race can be a bit of a crap shoot. My advisors tell me I should feel comfortable, because of my endorsements, the slate cards I’m on, the mailer, the team behind me, and a number of other factors coming together. I don’t.

Fear leads to stress. Stress leads to pimples. Argh.

Final push. Let’s go. Please vote for me on June 6th, and if you can volunteer, drop me an email. If you’d like to know more about me, feel free to read more.

Lowell High School celebrated it’s 150th birthday last night. There were attendees from the class of 1949 to the class of 2007. I caught up with many of my old teachers, classmates and friends.

There were a number of Lowell performers displaying talents, including theatre, music, and ROTC, who had an impressive drum and march display. As much as there’s furor in the city, they reallly showed their best. It’s notable and commendable that Lowell’s ROTC allows gay students to be open about themselves.

3 showed up from the Class of ‘94 which was a medium showing.

After an eternity in election time (1 day), I received a postcard for Jason Wong for Democratic Central Committee. I’m incredibly biased, but it seems to stand out among the pieces that hit the mailbox today. In other news, my site threw a rod with intermittent errors today, and I’m left wondering if that’s because the mail piece hit 13k homes simultaneously…

Argus is watching. I can rest a little easier.

Why is there a corner missing on your postcard?

So you’ll ask why a corner’s missing. Seriously. On the postcard in the post below, there’s a red notch that’s to be cut out of the postcard. It’s a design feature, and helps the piece stand out among the hundreds of other pieces of literaturel. Most political pieces try grab attention through imagery, color or font choice. It perks a few eyebrows, however, it’s only available in the limited edition Jason Wong handed out/cut set.

Hey, my postcard has a corner!

USPS only mails postcards with a rectangular shape – 4 corners. If I wanted to mail a corner cut card, those cost $0.60 to mail. Each! Ouch!

One advantage of owning a small web design and development shop is that you have a better idea of the aesthetic you want and really good designer friends that can do a great job.

I spent most of yesterday and the day before printing these out and cutting them with a highly inaccurate “laser” guided paper cutter($60.99 at Office Depot – don’t waste your money). I needed them for Saturday’s Asian Heritage Street Fair. If I had more time, I would have just sent them over to Spotlight printing. They’re union, and I’ll use them for a bigger job that I have coming up.

In the bottom right hand corner of the first side, you’ll notice the words “Computer Generated, Labor Donated.” That means I made it in house, which tells union workers and supporters that I didn’t try to use a dirt-cheap printing house that may be skirting fair wages, employee protections, and other potential labor issues.

10,000 votes, 19 days. Game on.

I’m through the endorsement process and fundraising. From here, it’s all about impressions. How many minds can I imprint my name onto, how many voters can I reach to vote for me?

Endorsements play a role here. About half of the clubs which endorse create a slate card – a mailing with your name telling voters that you’ve been endorsed by that community group. Each of the slate cards hit somewhere between 5,000-20,000 households. Most get thrown away, but they may see the name before it goes into the recycling bin. I need to get my name seen seven times to stick it in the mind of the voter.

This weekend, I will be at the Asian Heritage Street Celebration, between 20th & 25th Ave. on Irving St. handing out my postcards (which will be posted shortly after I finalize the copy), along with Fiona Ma’s literature and registering voters. 50,000 people will be there. For the Bay to Breakers on Sunday, I have a team of runners wearing “Jason Wong for SF DCCC” iron ons – 150,000 viewers. One-third of each day’s viewers will be from the correct assembly district, half of those – eligible voters.

A t-shirt preview

After this, it’s hit the bus lines in the morning, the supermarkets on the weekends, and every possible event I can get to. When there isn’t event, call the voters, get the name out. Then, hit them with the postcard – as many as I can.

I’m the president of the the Asian Pacific Democratic Club in San Francisco. The club met over two weekends and took the following positions on candidates and propositions:

Governor – Westly
Lt. Governor – Garamendi
Controller – John Chiang
Bd of Equalization – Betty Yee
State Senate – Leland Yee
Assembly – 12th AD – Fiona Ma
Assembly – 13th AD – Mark Leno
Judge – Lillian Sing

Props – No on A, B, C and D
State Props – Yes on 81 and 82

12th AD DCCC
Dan Dunnigan
Susan Hall
Tom Hsieh
Mary Jung
Meagan Levitan
Trevor McNeil
Jane Morrison
Melanie Nutter
Connie O’Connor
Matt Tuchow
David Wong
Jason Wong

13th AD – DCCC
Bill Barnes
Susan Bierman
Jimmer Cassiol
Gerry Crowley
Joe Julian
Leslie Katz
Rafael Mandelman
Tim Paulson
Laura Spanjian
Jordanna Thigpen
Scott Wiener

Yesterday, the odometer rolled over another digit. I remember when I was 25, I freaked out with a small quarter life crisis. I have a much clearer vision for myself, and the various pieces of my life are gelling, so I’m really looking forward to these years, instead of fearing them.

In another minor milestone (positive or negative), this was my first birthday that doubled as a fundraiser.

This year’s party was at McLaren Park. Mary Jung made a great speech for me, and I followed it up with a couple short sentences. There were a number of other politicals there, including SFDCCC candidates Melanie Nutter, Trevor McNeil, and future State Assemblywoman Fiona Ma.

So the next leg of my campaign journey begins – Fundraising. For the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee, a candidate needs to raise about 7-10k to be competitive. Most of this money goes towards Democratic club slate cards, but some of it will go towards newspaper advertisements, fliers, and mailers.

I believe there are mayoral races in small towns that need less than that. In LA, there are 400+ seats (as opposed to 24 in SF), where seats are left empty. Sigh. I’ve managed to raise a tad over $2000, and need to raise about $6,000 more.

Please take a minute to make a donation. I need help taking this first step into local, elected politics, and will serve with honor, dedication, and hard work.

The telecoms are looking create a “two-tiered” internet, allowing them to charge and prioritize traffic passing over their lines. They believe it’s their right, as it’s their lines. Imagine going to Google, or your own favorite blog and having to wait, because sbc purposely delayed traffic going to those sites. This is a Bad Thing.

This is a rallying cry for for startups, technology companies, and the entire Bay Area. The Internet is the great equalizer. All voices can be heard, information is at the fingertips of anyone who can connect. Think about what a pay to play Internet means to everyone, especially you.

An amendment to the Communications, Promotion, & Enhancement Act of 2006 supporting Net Neutrality by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) was shot down by the House Energy and Commerce Committee – largely along party lines. This amendment would have allowed the FCC to prohibit discrimination of traffic over the Internet. Now, we have to pin hopes on the Senate. It’s up to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation to get the ball rolling. Contact your Senator. Let them know you want a free and open Internet.

Here’s a Slate article that discusses this much more eloquently than I do.

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 ;-).