I’ve been doing this blog as a sort of online diary and alternative to arguing politics on Facebook. If you’re one of the two or three regular readers here, you know most of my output is politics. And really just a subset of politics – the 2020 horserace for the Democratic nomination to run against Trump. I also like to write about pop culture and some sports (Go Big Blue!).
I’ve had this idea in my head for a while that I was going to explore what it takes to run for political office as a Democrat here in deeply Republican Tennessee. I wasn’t sure how serious I was about it, but figured if I gave it a go, I’d use it as a civics lesson. I’d write about the process of getting on the ballot and other behind the scenes aspects of being a political candidate. And I would do this on the way to being slaughtered by whichever Republican I happened to be running against.
As any good husband should do, though, I talked to my wife, the awesome and wonderful MadDoc, about my idea. She’s always supportive of my activities, so I just figured she would sign off as she has in the past. This time, though, she surprised me. She told me that if I wasn’t going to take it seriously and try to win, then she would not support me doing it. I have to admit I was a little stung at first. But then I realized that she was right. If I was going to do it, I should go all out. That’s what the process deserves.
One of the things that prompted me to want to run for office is how many races end up with a Republican running unopposed. So, I figured if I was going to do this, I should try and target a race where it was looking like no Democrat would appear on the ballot. My first step was to talk to the Knox County Democratic Party. In doing so, I was able to figure out that the race for County Commissioner in my district might not have a Democratic candidate. So, check one.
Second, I attended a Campaign 101 class at Leadership Knoxville. I learned quite a bit about the process and about the race for the seat I am targeting. I’ll talk more about the process of getting on the ballot and being a serious candidate at another time, but the bottom line is that the process did not prove too daunting to take on, so I’ve started the process. Check two.
Third is where I’m at now. Taking it seriously. Putting together a platform and social media and figuring out a strategy and everything else is ongoing. But here’s the thing, if I’m going to be at least a semi-serious candidate, I’m going to have to separate some things. I’m still going to write my national political stuff and all of the other personal thoughts I have here at maddogesquire.com. But I’ve also grabbed another domain where I’m going to write posts about the process of the campaign. So the stuff that I had originally thought about writing here when I was not necessarily going to be a serious candidate, I’m now going to write at my new campaign website – www.fro4knox4.com.
I imagine there will be some crossover between the sites (I’m going to put a version of this post over there, for instance). But, fair warning, since this campaign stuff is swirling through my head right now, I’m more likely to be writing a bunch at the campaign site, rather than here. Hope to see you here and there!