The Hunt

As you all know the economy has not seen an upside in a long time.  In fact we are in our second depression as if one wasn’t bad enough.  But those who know me know that I try to find the silver lining to anything.  So my friend and I attempted to team up and buy a house together.  We found a great three bedroom three bathroom in Tempe for $120,000.  But isn’t it always true that those things that seem to be too good to be true usually are.   

After we had an inspection done and a contractor do a walk through we found several things would make the home more trouble than it’s worth.  Something I have learned over the last few years of my life is when to walk away.  Even when you have the paperwork ready and people are counting on you to go through with it there is something that I always keep in the back of my mind.  Its just business, and especially when money is involved your needs and interests must come first above all else.

Separation of Powers

It is easy to be discouraged in a campaign.  Especially when you know your candidate is the right man for the job but he is a Democratic and your state is overwhelmingly Republican.  It seems that every day I get a phone call saying that we need to on TV more attacking Brewer and I totally agree but what a lot of people don't know is that even though Goddard is what is considered the top of the Democratic ticket this election is considered a "clean election" unfortunately.  Believe me unfortunately.  That means that each candidate is only allotted $600,000 in personal fundraising and the rest goes to the Arizona Democratic Party and then is divided among the candidates.  Thats why your not really seeing a lot of ads from either candidate on television but there are a ton on YouTube.  Because you have people like me who can take media that has been filmed at a previous event and splice it together into a 30 second clip and load it onto YouTube.

But what can really be discouraging but also bring interns together is the layout of the office.  We are in a unique building in Phoenix.  It is more of a rectangle than a square so all of the desks are lined up against the wall leaving no one really eye contact with each other.  On the far end you have all the people with titles and on the other end you have the interns.  This has built a strong comradery with the interns but a little internal turmoil within the office because of the separation.  I still have tremendous respect for my colleagues but I think who ever thought that it was a good idea to put everyone where they did was a good idea must have been out of their mind.    A campaign like this with such a minimal budget needs all the support it can get and something as little as desk arrangement should not be the straw in the camel's back.

The Field

A little bit ago another intern and I went to a local farmers market to pass out flyers for Terry to likely voters.  When I was doing sales I used to do recruiting events at malls, movie releases and other busy locations.  So I was no stranger to passing out flyers to strangers and maybe getting some weird looks back for it or even a "no" or two or three or more.  But thats besides the point.  As we were there we had the opportunity to meet and talk to a lot of registered voters and talk to them about the issues and Terry's stance on them which was fantastic.  Because not everyone is able to come down to our head quarters in Phoenix and talk to us.  But is seems among so many things the economy and educations seem be the things that are peoples minds right now.  We did ran across a few teenagers who when we went to talk to them said that they did not believe in voting.  Im not going to lie that that statement stopped me in my tracks.  How can a person not believe in voting.  Its going to happen whether you like it or not.  The government is going to continue to be there even if you don't participate in it.  Why shouldn't you exercise your right to vote, it is your right and your the only one that is taking it away form you.

I find it sad that less than 60% of registered voters voted in our last national election.  I don't understand how we can live in a society where so many people complain about the economy, housing and job market but almost half of them don't participate in our major elections and even less will participate in their state elections.  If you are going to complain about the way your country is ran participate in it.  Volunteer in a public office or better yet run for a public office.  The best way to change the system is to be part of it.  Remember " those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber".

Support

Coming from behind on anything is never fun and is never easy.  But when you are an intern and have a deep background in sales and on the phone its almost a neccessity that you are on the phone in each new job just because you are good at.  Recently I have been put in or kind of thrown into which seems to the case in political campaigns the position of field organizer.  I have been doing the followup calls of all the people who said they supported Terry whether it be on the internet or in our office or during campaign events.  So I have spent my last few weeks and weekends calling hundreds of people and seeing if they would be willing to come into our headquarters in Phoenix and help with a phone bank.  Most people love to help us which is great, and I really mean that they are so grateful to hear from me and to learn how the campaign is going, but their are a few who wonder why we are only doing a phone bank right now with only a month to go.

I think the public is used to seeing national campaigns with huge media blitz where every other commercial is a campaign one.  Where one candidate is bashing another or where a candidate is promoting their agenda over the other.  But then there are the state elections, that don't have the same financial backing.  They usually don't even have the same enthusiasm behind them.  Trust me those of us involved work until we cant work anymore until the very end even if we don't get a pay check at the end of the week.  Because we are all working for the same goal, we all believe in the same thing. And that is the issues and the candidate.   But most people especially the younger generation who were so caught up in this last Presidential election will probably ignore this election even though it will have more impact on their lives than they will even realize until the election is over.