Eureka!

One month ago I was in a constant state of panic about getting enough signatures on my nominating petitions. Ask Jessie, my campaign manager and she might agree that I was a little obsessive compulsive about getting these signatures. You can't get on the ballot without them and it will be all over for any candidate who falls short. You need about 2900 to qualify so you shoot for more than that in case you are challenged by an opponent on their validity. Judy Espinosa, one of last year's Mayoral candidates found that out the hard way when she fell short.


This little pile contains about 4800 signatures and I know of at least another 1,000 or so that will come in from volunteers. About 70% of my signatures came from paid gatherers. I know that just about every candidate hired these folks. I had two paid groups getting mine. One was SC Consulting and the other was the Campaign Finance Company. They guarantee about a 70% validity rate on their signatures.

On February 14th all of the candidates will carry their signatures to the Secretary of State's Office and file their candidacies. Then the campaign season begins in earnest. The next big hurdle is to attend the Democratic pre-primary nominating convention in March and get at least 20% of the delegate votes to get on the ballot. If you don't get those votes you have a few weeks to get more signatures to get on the ballot anyway. After that, it is just plain hard work raising money and getting votes for the Primary election in June.