Good News

I got the nod from the newspaper the Capital Outlook, which was very gratifying. I attended the Tiger Bay Club meeting, where I feel certain that no one in the room had heard my name six months ago, but I was warmly received or studiously ignored, depending on whether or not the person was pleased with my candidacy, but they'd all heard of me. With five days to go, whether going door to door or events frequented by voters, I hear more and more that people have already voted. So we are preparing for the last day of voting, Election Day.

I'm tired, to be sure, but glad that I ran, glad that I stood for office.

Why don't Women Run?

In the paper over the weekend, there was a column that wondered why there were only three women running out of 24 local candidates (the author did not include the judicial race).

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060827/OPINION05/608270305/1006/NEWS17

Here is an article that tries to answer the question of why women don't run. The short answer seems to be that they're not encouraged to run.

http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Taubman_Center/womeninoffice.pdf#search=%22Why%20don't%20women%20run%20for%20office%22

Absentee Voters

The number of absentee ballots sent out broke 8000 this week, and the number of early voters was about 2000. We noticed as we went door to door yesterday (for hours, in blistering heat) that a number of people on the list had already voted. Statewide, low voter turnout is predicted for September 5. I had thought with two open County Commission seats and an open Superintendent of Schools seat that Leon County's turnout would be higher than normal, but normal is still pretty high for here. Even yesterday, probably half of the people I talked to were not aware of the judicial race, I don't know if this race can be called until it's over.

The local paper endorsed an opponent.

The Democrat’s error is in failing to see that their selection promotes an anachronism. Men make up 80% of the county court. My selection would bring my combined experience as a wife and mother, as a breast cancer survivor, and as a Navy veteran to the bench. Justice is not only the province of men over 50.

I, too, have many years of broad legal practice, from tax law to RICO to consumer law, and public and private practice experience. I have jury trial experience in both state and federal court, and am a Special Counsel in the Attorney General’s Office. I’m an honors graduate from Florida State’s law school, where I served as an associate editor on the law review.

I, too, have lived in Tallahassee for years, but I’ve also served in the U.S. Navy, and studied international law on a Rotary Scholarship. I, too, have served this community through church work, charitable board work, school volunteer work and pro bono work.

You can follow the direction of the editorial board and repeat the narrowness of the past, or you can vote for the future. I hope you will vote Lisa Raleigh for County Court Judge.

What I do all day

6:15 am- get up
7 am - 8:15 Wave signs
8:45 - 11:00 E-mail (work & home), phone calls, thank you notes
11:15 - 11:30 - Non campaign related visit to friend. In driveway while leaving the friend's house, try to get friend's niece to vote for me
11:45 - 1:10 - Waving sign at courthouse where early voting conducted
1: 15 - 1:30 - Put up sign, visit with supporter
1:45 - 2:15 - Work
2:15 - 2:45 - Pick up flyers from mail house
3:00 - 4:00 - Work - Telecom conference call
4:00 - read opponent's direct mail, watch cartoons with son
5:00 - 6:45 - Hand out flyers at University Club before large banquet
7:00 - Phone calls to confirm sign wavers for morning
7:15 - Eat supper prepared by husband
8:00 - supervise son's shower, supervise teeth brushing, read story
8:45 - Call supporter, push e-mail
8:50 - Check e-mail

Am I doing enough?

No. But it's probably not possible.

Back in the spring I had breakfast with a guy who used to run Florida political races for a living and he told me that because my name recognition was so poor that I just needed to work steadily for months, that a single burst at the end wouldn't do it for me. We have worked steadily, but it seems that the general population has only been interested in the race for the past four weeks. Additionally, traditional campaigning doesn't address the fact that a greater and greater share of the electorate votes early or absentee. So there are complexities that really aren't being addressed in the literature yet.

I am becoming a sign waving addict. Although I suspect that I could stand out there with a sign that says, "Free the elves" and people would still honk and wave, I just love standing out there and waving and smiling and holding up my sign. So far I've been out with different friends every day, and most of them are sort of taken with how much you learn, just by looking at people who are driving by and smiling and waving at them.

How to Wave a Sign

1. Get some friends
2. Position self and friends to be close to maximum amount of on-coming traffic
3. Wave hand while holding up sign and smile at people in on-coming cars, switching positions as the lights change so that you are always facing on-coming traffic
4. Repeat until arm is sore, or too hot and tired to continue or until election is over
5. Recognize that various other candidates also want to stand on street corners, possibly the same street corner you are on

Bandwagon - Long Play Version

I'd told everyone to meet us there at 6:45 pm, and although we arrived promptly, there were probably over 100 vehicles already at the television station, and the place was a madhouse. Fortunately, several people with better sense than me had arrived early and staked out seats. Melissa, desiring to wear fur without distressing people at PETA, arrived wearing a live cat. She claimed it was an abandoned kitten that was ill and needed constant body heat, but I know a fashion statement when I see it. Her husband, David, had made all of our signs for waving out of wire and sawed off pieces of broom handles. That sounds silly, but they are egonomic and lightweight.

Nisha, who is an accountant in real life, came directly from work wearing a dress and heels, and was seen during the event standing in her heels on a chair waving a sign and yelling. Anthony Miller and Olivia Ahyoung were sitting together and carrying on fiercely. I love my supporters.

My husband, in a flash of genius, invited one of his colleagues who is 6'8" to wave a sign. My husband says it was just common sense.

James, 7, in complete disregard for life and limb was jumping up and down with his sign on top of a folding chair, which he did until I sent the producer over to him to speak sternly to him. I was trapped at the front and couldn't reach him or be heard over the din.

My friend Gordon was serene through all this chaos. He is my true friend. He even hung around afterwards to hear the other speeches. His helper, Stewart, was an extremely enthusiastic sign waver, and he had the "veterans support" sign, since he's a veteran.

My sainted treasurer was there, as was my long time friend, Claire Kelly. Both of them seemed to know half of the people there.

Over the weeks, the three of us who are running for this seat have had our individual ebbs and flows of difficulties with the race, but toegether have maintained not just civility, but a kind of comaradary. Last night I was cheery and the fellows seemed down, but in the past, when I've been down and they seemed up, they have always assured me that they, too, are miserable. It's almost like it's in bad taste to enjoy a judicial race.

The judicial candidates went first, in ballot order, so I was last of the first. Because I've heard the stump speeches of my colleagues so often, I found I was relatively relaxed. Plus, I knew I had to make this count, because the guys have television advertisements and I can't afford them. So I tried to make it count.

One of the guys who used to work in our office went through the judicial nominating process a bunch of times before finally being appointed. He always said you should smile during the interview. I tried to smile during my precious television time, but I mostly forgot to in the middle. I also had to look over at the side of the television studio that did not contain my supporters, because if I looked at them I was going to totally lose my composure.

For me, the best part was when I finished, exactly on schedule at 2:26, and there was this pause and then my supporters went ballistic. Even people not associated with the judicial race were applauding with enthusiasm. Afterwards people I didn't know were reaching out to me to shake my hand as I went by, congratulating me. It was heady.

So now it will be on 13 times more before the primary. But I don't know that I could bear to watch myself on tv.

What a Day

This morning was the first morning for sign waving. This is a time honored tradition locally, where you stand out by the side of the road and hold a yard sign and wave at people as they drive by. It's a cheap way of raising name recognition. Three friends stood with me, and we held our signs and waved for an hour and a quarter until the smog and heat overcame us.

Also this morning the Tallahassee Democrat printed profiles of each of the judicial candidates.
http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060821/NEWS01/608210319/1010

And, coincidentally, it was the day that I had a color insert put in the paper. One of my friends said the insert fell out of the paper while he was reading it on the treadmill at the gym and he nearly tripped over it. He said he felt that was a liability issue.

Then tonight, the local PBS station, with the League of Women Voters, had every single local candidate on television for 2.5 minutes. We were each allowed to bring 10 supporters to make noise and carry on. The judicial candidates were the first candidates on the program. It was shown live tonight and will be shown repeatedly between now and the election. It was fun.
http://www.wfsu.org/bandwagon2006/

Comments & E-mails

In the past few days, I've received several e-mails and a comment or two about my campaign for judge. If you're reading the blog and would like a yard sign, just call - 212-3334, and we'll get one out to you. Thanks.

Hot seat

Traditionally, judicial candidates have refrained from any type of issue discussion because the judicial canons of ethics prohibit any promise to rule a certain way, or to give the appearance of bias. However, a recent opinion, not from the Supreme Court, but the JEAC (Judicial Ethics Advisory Council) has opened the door to limited discussion.

http://www.jud6.org/LegalPractice/opinions/judicialethicsadvisoryopinions/2006/2006-18.html

Now I'm expected to comment intelligently but in sound bites, on matters ranging from abortion to homosexual marriage to gun rights. What no one seems particularly interested in is that County Court is almost completely involved in statutory issues, statutes which fall within the clear discretion of the legislature, and the judge's sole obligation is to apply the facts to the law.

On the other hand, it's nice to be asked my opinion, even though the questioners invariably have a vested interest in the answer.

We've had two forums in the past two days, one at Westminster Oaks, and another at the Miccosukee Community Center. The one at Westminster Oaks was well attended, there were probably 150 people there, but there were 12 candidates, so it was long. They were relatively generous with the amount of time they gave us to speak, 7 minutes, but I still didn't have time to cover everything I wanted to with that well educated and experienced crowd.

The one at the Miccosukee Community Center was extremely well organized, and had about 50 people from the rural community attending. Their questions were predominently for the County Commission Candidates, so I left around 8:45 pm.

This morning I had an interview with the Capital Outlook, which I must confess I enjoyed more than the Tallahassee Democrat's interview, which was much more like a forum for 7 people than an editorial board review.

43

Today is my birthday and my gift from the Tallahassee Democrat is a photo of one of my opponent's signs being removed from public property by a city worker for being illegally placed.
http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060816/NEWS01/608160324/1010

Yesterday a friend and I were staked out at a state office building at 7 am, where we stood and inflicted flyers on people until 8:15, and then I went to the paper and got a little problem ironed out with the advertising department, and then I caught up with my e-mail, and then I met with a woman who had previously run successfully for office, and then I went to a luncheon, and bought another 300 stamps for the absentee voters, and met James' bus, and took on a pro bono case, and talked to the volunteer who is managing the absentee voter mailings, and went swimming and ate supper and then walked door to door until it was dark. But other than, running for office really doesn't take much time.

Before I started all this

I talked to a woman who ran for judge back in 1996, which was the last time there was an open County Court seat. She said that pretty much every day she did something on the campaign. Perhaps her recollection was rosy, because pretty much every day, all day I'm doing something on this campaign.

Singing

I sang at a vigil mass tonight, and for the first time in many years the organist failed to appear, so I led the singing without an accompanist. It was hard, but I was in good voice, knew the songs well, and was lucky enough that 4 members of the choir were sitting in the congregation, and they sang their hearts out. But it was still hard.

One of my colleagues from work is going door to door for me. I gave him 250 flyers and he needs more. He is like the choir members singing their hearts out.

Tomorrow is another busy day, and marks three weeks until the election. If I was starting on a three week vacation tomorrow, it would feel all new and just beginning. It's important to remember that most people are just noticing that there is a judicial race, and I am a new candidate to them. They don't know anything about me, and it's time to tell them.

Another good day

I went to church Sunday morning with a very important person, and got introduced warmly, and when I stood up people clapped. After the service, the very important person stood in the vestibule with me and told people to vote for me and made people take flyers. It was extremely helpful to me, and probably got me a few votes, because people rely on other people to help them decide these down the ballot races.

I did do one non-election related thing today, which was see off a friend who is joining a convent. In this commercially driven world, it is like cool water to see someone chose something else, something productive in the broadest sense of the word. It was an extremely happy occasion.

Then I went door to door, and then attended yet another function where the candidates outnumbered the voters. When I got home, I felt like I'd done my part for the day.

A Pretty Good Day

We spent yesterday morning going door to door talking to primary voters and made good progress. It was 102 degrees, according to the bank clock, by the time we finished, so we felt like we had done our part. In the afternoon I figured out a way to use up the remaining postcards without imposing on people to hand write another 700, and we did the grocery shopping. The young fellow who helped us with the groceries was happy because he has turned 18 and this is his first election. So I hope he votes for me, but mostly I just hope he votes.

End Game

Just over three weeks until the primary. Even with the television and radio ads of my competitors, in going door to door I'm finding a majority of primary voters still don't know there's a judicial race. It's too late to change any part of the strategy, really, although I did have a crisis of faith yesterday, but I don't know what I thought I should do. The forums we've had recently were relatively poorly attended and were largely about the earned media that came from attendance. There are so many candidates that the speeches are limited to 3 minutes or so, and that means outside of a basic introduction, even voters in attendance know little about a candidate.

Even I, who have met most of the challenging candidates several times, cannot say that I have some significant knowledge of how well they would carry out their duties if elected. It's rather sobering.

Stalking Voters

Tonight I was standing outside a meeting for State of Florida retirees handing out flyers, and representatives from a gubenatorial candidate came and started handing out flyers, too. Of course, everybody's heard of the gubenatorial candidate and nobody's heard of me. Those people should go away and be satisfied with television time and stop infringing on voters, who need to talk to me, not them. Really.

I had to sort of feel sorry for the people trying to attend the meeting, they had to run the gauntlet of people inflicting flyers on them.

Good news: Two people told me that one of my supporters had already e-mailed them and they were going to vote for me.

Bad news: One guy wouldn't even take my flyer, saying he had one of my opponent's signs in his yard. Another guy, a known supporter of one of my opponents did take a flyer. I don't know which was worse.

Life Lessons

Yesterday I was at a luncheon for retired military. While one guy was getting his dessert, he fell. I went over to help, and told him the floor was very slippery, and he said that no, he had turned around too quickly, that he had some balance problems, and that he wouldn't blame someone else for what was his own fault. I found that to be a very brave statement. Not every one comes to terms with their losses as they age, fewer still own them in that clear way. I was impressed. There is more than one kind of bravery.

A Vertitable Whirlwind of Activity

Handing out flyers, attending luncheons and forums, going door to door, coaxing supporters to show up for things, talking to the saints who are working on the absentee voter mail, talking to the treasurer, planning walking for later in the week, planning the sign waving, preparing responses to forum questions. That's just the campaign stuff. Cleaning the kitchen, cooking the dinner, doing the laundry, reading to James, playing blackjack with James (is this a suitable game for a 7 year old?) talking to Jim. Checking my work e-mail, checking my work messages, talking to my secretary, struggling to keep one of my cases from being snatched by another section in my absence. I'm still sleeping and eating, but haven't exercised since last week, unless going door to door counts, and I think it probably doesn't. But other than that I'm not really doing anything. How are you?

Meanwhile, volunteers are doing mailings to absentee voters daily, phoning voters, knocking on the doors of voters, e-mailing voters, trying to figure out places I should be going to meet more voters, pressuring their friends and family to vote for me and trying to get more signs put up. I simply couldn't do this without them, or without Jim & James.

Kids Boutique

The Junior League sponsors a clothing buy for kids returning to school each year. A couple of my girlfriends belong, and I went as a "shadow shopper." There really were 150 kids there, plus their parents, plus other kids in the family who weren't getting clothes, it was amazing. We were assigned two girls in late grade school, they were cousins. We had $120 to spend on clothes and shoes, and were told to spend $90 on clothes and save $30 for shoes. We also got 20% off the store prices and didn't have to pay sales tax, but it was still hard. I largely helped with one kid, and she got two pairs of jeans, underwear, socks, a pair of gauchos, four t-shirts and a hooded zip up jacket. Her cousin, who was harder to fit, and we had to buy women's sized clothes for, wound up with fewer, but more expensive clothes. We had tears when we had to put a couple of things back because they put us over the budget. It's hard for kids to discern between what they'll need and wear all the time, like boring jeans, and what will get them sent home from school to change, like denim mini-skirts and spaghetti strap tank tops. I have never in my entire life experienced such helpful staff as last night. The staff at the store volunteered to stay late, and they were just tremendous. Here's the link to the local coverage.
http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060807/NEWS01/608070311/1010

Impolitic

Man, I'm tired. People told me I'd be tired, and I am tired. I just want to lie around the house and vegetate. However, lying around the house does not get one elected, so I'm going out again.

Another forum

Last night I got another invitation to yet another forum, it arrived by e-mail, but is for a spaghetti dinner, so it's a modern method for a standard fund raising dinner. I'm quite pleased that the judicial candidates have at least been invited to several forums, people are hesitant because they view us as being able to say so little. Since there are a good number of people who don't even know there's a judicial race, even if we weren't able to say anything but the fact that there is a judicial race, we'd be providing valuable civics information. We can say a good bit more. Sometime, maybe after this is over, I'll post my stump speech.

Working Hard

One of my girlfriends who was sidelined from her own campaign for judge, is living vicariously through several other people she knows in various circuits around the state who are still running. She says she hears lots of stories from the campaign trail that are very funny, but she thinks I am working the hardest of any of the folks she is watching.

Today, I actually worked at my real job, which was a refreshing pleasure. I got to call up an opposing counsel and harass him, work on a subpoena, and generally remind myself that I'm still a lawyer. And I got invited to speak in October to a car dealer association, so it was a good day at work.

After work I picked up today's list of absentee voters, there are over 100 again. These people are breaking me in postage.

Encouragement

Today I had lunch with a guy who has provided free advice to my campaign over the past year. We went over our plan for the next thirty days, and when I asked him for any last minute advice, he said that the plan was solid, stick to the schedule, I was doing all I could do. After lunch, I was standing in line to pay the bill, and a guy in front of me spoke to me about the race and I gave him a flyer (I was wearing my name tag, I'd forgotten I was wearing it). My advisor told me that I'd probably picked up another vote. And I realized how much I'd learned in the past year, and that the advisor had probably enjoyed watching me learn and watching me get better at campaigning.

Then this evening, at the first door I knocked on, a woman answered the door, and I told her my name and that I was running for County Court Judge. She said, "Oh, I got your flyer in the mail yesterday. I'm so glad you're here." It was, quite possibly, the single most satisfying moment of this entire campaign.

Editorial Board at the Tallahassee Democrat

All three of us arrived early, because we're eager beavers, and also know that the hour spent with the editorial board is one of the most important hours spent during the campaign. Mary Ann Lindley came out and said they'd be a few more minutes, so we were given a temporary reprieve, but she came back shortly thereafter and said we could come in. There were seven people talking to us, including the publisher and two citizen members of the editorial board. Mary Ann Lindley told us we had three minutes to make an introductory statement, then she had five questions, and then we could have two minutes to close.

It was difficult, similar in pressure to a Supreme Court oral argument. The questions were largely issues we'd heard before, one we had at the Tallahassee Bar Association about being fair and not letting our former work influence our decision making, one about court funding similar to the one asked two years ago by the League of Women Voters in their judicial questionaire, and three others which I forget now. I closed with two minutes on how to evaluate a judicial candidate, which had one member specifically say to me, "good closing."

Another member shook all of our hands afterwards and said we were three very strong candidates. I hope someone remembers that the last time there was an open County bench seat, the paper endorsed several people.

After reading the columns in the paper by a couple of members of the board talking about how hard these interviews are for them, even implying that they are also dull, I think the group was both interested and might have learned something. Mary Ann Lindley said they'd run their endorsements day by day, ending the Saturday before the election, people not endorsed would have an opportunity to have a short letter of response printed.

After that, we all swapped cell phone numbers for election night, the guys made jokes about asking where the other was going so they could follow each other, and I went to the supervisor's office to pick up labels for absentee ballots. Then I picked up James and we went over to somebody else's house and put labels and stamps on flyers for 143 absentee voters, then we ate some supper and went door to door. There were six of us last night, so even though we just had those short hours after work and before dark, we got a lot done.

It was a busy day.

Forum - for other people

This evening there was a forum for the District 3 candidates, I went because I figured that the people there are obviously going to vote, and as long as they are voting anyway, they should vote for me. I was really impressed with the range of topics presented in the questioning, and how demanding it must have been to be well versed in so many areas. It seemed that most of the people there were people interested in environmental issues concerning Lake Jackson, but a few people had seen the forum posted on listservs and come in, and one lady told me she was new to the area and was learning about the candidates before she voted. I could have kissed her. Just wish I heard it more often.

Handing out Flyers

So it's good to know that it is hot at 8:00 am as well as 7:00 pm. Today I handed out flyers in front of a state office building for an hour and a half before work started. Apparently it is a favorite spot, somebody told me that a County Commission candidate was there the day before and another couple of candidates have been standing there in the past couple of weeks. At least it's a popular spot. It was particularly wretched because we were surrounded by little flying gnats (my campaign manager actually had one fly in her mouth while she was talking to a voter). Also a loud riding mower was mowing across the street, and a train went by, and for a while I felt like I couldn't hear myself think. One guy said he wasn't going to vote for me because I'd had breast cancer. Two people said thank you for running. Several people seemed reasonably interested. One person asked an intelligent question about election vs. appointment. About 200 people took a flyer. We were pretty careful to ask people if they voted in Leon County before we gave them one of our precious flyers.

The absentee list came out yesterday so I was frantically trying to get the mailers going. Much better to have so much money you can send an introductory piece to every primary voter and not have to run around like a chicken with your head cut off the day the ballots go out. Off and running to deliver signs and flyers to a supporter.