Thoughts Upon Being a Candidate

Now that the election is over, my life has become eerily quiet.

Yes, it was stressful, exhausting, took over my life for almost a year, and I had the time of my life. It will challenge you intellectually, emotionally, and psychologically. You will have the adventure of a lifetime, and I recommend it highly. If you are thinking of running in 2012, the time to start planning is today (no, I am not kidding).

Part of the art of politics is know what is in the realm of possibility. My district, CA’s CD9, is the most Democratic in the entire state and the fifth most Democratic in the entire House of Representatives, according to the Cook Political Index. So, flipping my district to Republican was not exactly my goal. My vote total, 10.8%, did blip up slightly from 2008, where the Republican got 9.7%. I did this by running as a pure conservative with a budget campaign. No, my real task was adding my voice to a growing Conservative chorus within the Republican party. By this measure, I succeeded rather well.

As for the future, I plan to continue blogging right here, but under a different blog, since the election is over. Future entries on this blog will occur only if it relates specifically to my campaign, but I do not expect that to happen.
I also plan to write an article for those who are thinking of running for public office.
I have already started to accumulate new op-eds, so stay tuned for further details.