So You Think You Want to Run for Congress
An Unvarnished Chronicle of Campaigns and Campaigning in the Era of Trump
Chapter 1
“The problem with political jokes is that they get elected.” – Henry Cate
“My God, what have we done,” was my response to Molly, my wife, as we watched Hillary Clinton concede to Donald Trump the morning of November 9, 2016. Just moments before Hillary walked out to speak, I saw my good friend Jim Margolis take a seat in the second row. Jim had been her media advisor having served in that same capacity in both of President Obama’s campaigns. He looked totally spent. I would find out later when we finally had a chance to talk that uncharacteristically, he was sure they were going to win this one. In other campaigns, he was always the glass is half empty guy. This time he thought the glass was full. What had happened?
CHapter 3
“Take a good look at me, because you’ll never recognize me once my opponent gets done with me.” – Leonard Boswell, Iowa Congressman
“At long last, have you left no sense of decency,” implored Joseph Welch, Chief Counsel for the U.S. Army, to Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Army-McCarthy hearings on June 9, 1954. The McCarthy hearings were possibly the apex of the politics of personal destruction. This modus operandi regretfully is common practice in political campaigns where “directors of research” implement “oppo research” through “trackers,” “push polls,” “whispering campaigns” and negative advertising. Dirty, vicious and mean spirited are just some of the adjectives to describe this brand of politics with just one more–effective.
CHapter 6
“All politicians should have three hats – one to throw into the ring, one to talk through and one to pull rabbits out of if elected.” – Carl Sandburg
I decided to spend most of 2017 honestly exploring the notion of running. I say honestly since we often hear or see candidates “exploring” when we know full well they are running. My self-imposed fall deadline would allow me to move about at a variety of candidate events and forums and meet with political and community leaders to get a feel for how my message and overall candidacy would be received. It would also allow me to get a first-hand view of my potential primary opponents, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and gauge how I might stack up in the primary August 7 of 2018. Finally, by waiting until fall, we might have a better idea of whether Congressman Fred Upton planned to run again, which was a critical factor in whether the race would be winnable. I was genuinely exploring.