Win Early, Win Often

Written by: Mark Harmon on Nov 15, 2006 9:36 AM EST

    I ran for Knox County (Tennessee) Commissioner throughout the spring and summer of 2006.  The election day was August 3rd.  I won with a little more than 54% of the vote, the only local candidate that day in our county to upset an incumbent.   Democracy for America and Democracy for Tennessee support were very helpful.  My campaign manager, Paul Witt, leads Democracy for Knoxville--and he was exceptionally good about strategy.    The keys were:    Door-to-door.  I walked nearly the entire district, using good lists of likely voters.  I stressed those who leaned Republican.  If I could persuade them to vote for me that was a "two," one for me, one less for my opponent.  I also went to many neighborhood association meetings, and had good direct mail.  My issues were schools (more support needed), sprawl (too much), and sheriff (held accountable).  To that I could add term limits because my opponent joined a lawsuit to nullify the county charter so he and several others could avoid term limits.  I ran a subtle message that my opponent had done some good in eight years, but had let us down by that act--and it was time for a fresh approach to these matters.

Tags: