Nuts and Bolts

I had a nice telephone conversation today with Paul Baldwin who is the supervisor (I believe that's his title) of the campaign financing office of Delaware's Commissioner of Elections.

Given the fact this is my first attempt in running for elected office, contact with his office is paramount to understanding the machinations of what one needs to do to run for a federal office here in Delaware. This blog of mine is also in blunt reality a running commentary of my efforts and perhaps can be used as a useful tool for anyone else who wishes to do what I'm doing.

I will be running as an unaffiliated candidate for the US Senate. This means that although I've actually been registered as a Democrat for Delawarean statistical purposes, I will need to officially end that association. I feel no hardship in doing so as the main reason I'm going for the US Senate is to function as a true Independent and not have to buckle under the desires and expectations of one specific party. I will go through the motions of re-registering myself sometime within the next month.

To be a candidate from a Delaware perspective, I will need to provide the Commissioner of Elections a petition which will be due by July 25, 2010 and I will need at least 5674 signatures of people who feel that I have the right to at least appear on the state ballot for the 2010 general elections. I would have between January 1, 2010 and that July date to have these signatures. I do believe that I will be able to see this number if not more. Signing a petition such as this does not mean that one has to vote for me. I look at this petition as an acknowledgment that I have the right to run for such an office. The 5674 signature figure is actually based upon a required percentage which in turn is based upon the number of registered voters from the prior year. Due to an uptick in voter registration for 2008, Mr Baldwin said the number will be somewhat higher but probably no more than 5700 when calculations are made for 2010 election purposes. Either way, while this does sound like a lot of people from my humble perspective, I feel I should be able to procur the required amount.

I also want to make a comment now about "running" for office. I recognize that my opponents will have much more experience and state party funding than I will. That interestingly enough is not an issue for me. I'm not looking at "running" against anyone. My platforms as advanced on this simple blog are what I am offering. It's highly probable that a reader will agree with portions of my interests and will disagree with others. As I had mentioned before, politics and real life are not simply black and white issues and my hope is to educate you on my particular perspectives of numerous issues and hope that we can find common ground for the further enrichment of our society as a whole.

I will freely admit that I may or may not change positions in midstream. This is not an issue of waffling or flip-flopping or whatever perjorative term other politicians choose to use when confronted with someone who is fully aware of the nature of realpolitik. Let me explain.

While I may have specifically strong feelings about any given issue, the reality exists that further information not available to me may or may not change my personal ideology on an issue. Just because I may feel strongly one way or another on a topic doesn't mean that I can't take a second look if further information that I was unaware of is presented to me. I will be upfront and honest with you that if a change of my platform were to suddenly change from previously stated beliefs, then you have to trust that my change of heart will be made on my careful analysis of the subject matter concerned.