Running A Candidate

John Schroeder has been unhappy with the decisions of the Mapleville City Council for so time. He finally decides that the only remedy is to elect to the council someone he can have confidence in. Unwilling to put himself in the race for council man he decides that Peter Hanson would be a good candidate for the council as an “independent”. Hanson is a civil engineer with an advanced degree in public administration who owns a small successful consulting engineering firm in the city.

He arranges to have lunch with Hanson who seems willing to give it a try.

Inexperienced in politics, Schroeder wonders what it would take to get Hanson elected.

One afternoon, a salesman from out of town who had been calling on Schroeder for several years comes by. Schroeder knows he has been active in politics in his community and Schroeder uses this as an opportunity to get some answers. The salesman, Homer Cooper, is happy to oblige.
Cooper mentions two steps. One is getting on the ballot. The other is getting elected. And he makes these points:

1.  A lawyer’s services would be required. Cooper tells Schroeder he does not know what the law is in Mapleville but in his hometown Hanson would be required to have petitions signed by a number of eligible voters equal to 10% of the total vote cast in the last election for the office he is seeking.

2.  Later (in the campaign) literature, posters, publicity releases, and advertising would be required. Skilled help would be necessary to prepare these.

3.  The candidate would need to speak to important groups. For this, he would probably need some help with research and speech writing — and someone to arrange the speaking engagements.

4.  A finance committee would be needed to raise funds. The campaign would require more money than any one person would want to contribute.

5.  A precinct organization would be needed. By that, Cooper explains,.- they will need somebody in each precinct to get signatures on petitions and the assistance to get out Hanson’s supporters to vote and to protect his interests at the precinct polling places.

Cooper says that while he is not familiar with Mapleville, if it is like his town there is quite a bit to know about its political side. Taking the time to gain an understanding of local politics can save a candidate from many small mistakes that could hurt their chances of winning.

After Cooper leaves, Schroeder does some figuring. Mapleville has 18 precincts and the vote in the last state election was about 9,000. If Cooper is right about 10% of the vote being required on a petition that would mean he needs an average of 50 signatures in each precinct to get Hanson on the ballot.

Schroeder reviews all the different jobs Cooper said must be done in a campaign. He remembers, too, Cooper’s parting remark: “John, both parties have an organization already set up to do this kind of work. You ought to give some thought to getting a party to endorse Hanson and run him.”