I haven’t actively posted here for most of the last year (or 18 months). I would anticipate that with what’s coming next, that will probably continue to be the case (although I intend to check in, and will post occasionally as time allows and the spirit moves me).
The last 18 months have been quite the whirlwind. From the announcement of my candidacy for the Nebraska Legislature in June of 2013, till my narrow victory in the General Election this past November 4, life has been busy, and full of a few insights. Here are some of my briefs:
- I started drinking coffee in my 40’s—and really, it wasn’t coffee, but doctored up flavored, coffee “drinks”. Coffee has become a drink of choice for me in the last year. In part because of the properties of the caffeine, but in part because that’s what others are drinking when you stop by the local donut shop. All good conversations with citizens seem to revolve around the placement of coffee on the tables. We’ll have a coffee pot available in my office. Stop on by.
- Campaigns need volunteers or a lot of money—and sometimes, both. In the closing days of my campaign, things got a little crazy. The mailings that were sent out were sometimes amusing in their attempts to scare voters; the robocalls made were downright irritating. I couldn’t have won without two things: a great corps of volunteers who walked with us in parades, knocked on doors, waved signs on election day, and made phone calls; and some great contributors who pitched in at the last minute so that we could get all of our planned mailings out. One interest group spent about $50,000 trying to beat me—almost half of that amount was given directly to my opponent’s campaign, amounting to about a third of his campaign income. My donors were much more spread out.
- My family is made up of great sports. My dad, step-mother, and 2 of my kids walked with me in just about every parade (they may have each missed one out of the 15 or so that we did around the district this summer). My husband—when he wasn’t working—walked in parades and helped with lit drops. My mom made cookies for some of our events. That’s in addition to the great support from the non-family volunteers.
- One year out from the election, we decided to get a newer car—a Honda Accord, a little over a year old, with 20,000 miles on it. A year later, it had 48,000 miles on it. Lots of “short trips” through the district really added up in that year. 28,000 miles is about twice the usual mileage that I’ve put on a car in a year. Fortunately, even with gas prices that were pretty high this past summer, the Honda got pretty good mileage (at least compared to the 10 year old minivan that I had been driving…).
- Win an election, and you get lots of friends! The morning after the election, the congratulatory phone calls started coming in. Two days after the election, the congratulatory letters started filling my mailbox. A few days after that, I started getting lots of invitations to lots of social events being hosted by assorted organizations, starting next week (when the session starts). It’s not possible to go to all of them. One night, I LITERALLY, have 3 invitations for the same time, different parts of town. How we’re going to handle that in my office is yet to be determined.
- People think that you can solve their problems with legislation. Although I haven’t had TOO many requests, I’ve had people from several different groups ask me to “carry” legislation for them (all legislation has to be introduced by a member of the legislature, so interest groups look for people who will do that for them).
- With 18 new members of the 49 member legislature, it will be interesting to see how we all approach this. I should take notes (but probably won’t)—it might make an interesting book someday.
Watch the swearing in at 10 a.m. (Central Time) on Wednesday, January 7. It’s live-streamed here. Watch a little longer, and you’ll see what opening day looks like.
LLE
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