New York's 20th District is geographically large. (Click here for basic map and here for a .pdf version) As far south as Dutchess, west as Delaware and north as Essex counties. Our location in Columbia County is as central as possible. The hope is that we can canvas it at special events, county fairs and other impromptu affairs.
At the moment I've personally spent about $250 in materials, domain registrations, gas and the Columbia County voter records in digital format. Obtaining the other counties lists will also be required. Sending out mailings will probably be the biggest overall costs. Television ads will probably not be possible. Having professionally paid staff will save a great deal of money. Those on the staff are in fact professionals donating time and resources. If we can maximize our final vote tally against what we spend and come out more efficient than the big spenders we will have won at some level.
The combined resources of the two major parties in this race exceeds one million dollars. With a strong Internet presence and some savvy marketing we might approach 10 or even twenty thousand dollars in the next six months. That would be a resounding success in a third party, insurgent campaign. The Libertarian Leadership School is requiring every class to read Joe Trippi's book, The Revolution Will Not be Televised. We are hoping to tap into the anti-war sentiment that made the Dean candidacy such a surprise. I promise that if the campaign comes to a screeching moment, I will employ all that my vocal chords and lungs can handle. I should be done with the book this weekend and expect to pass it on to all campaign staff.
Hopefully a new mug shot is coming soon. I use the current one on my other site and it was originally intended as a joke. The mug in it, not mine, is a friend's from college whom we've had a game going for a number of years about its ownership.
After all is said and done I realize that winning in this rigged environment is not possible. If we can register a hundred voters LPNY we will have increased the percentage of voters significantly. Hopefully the fight can be taken up another day. We need the freaks and geeks, the other parties have already bought the best and the brightest. Help. Join the fight.
In Liberty,
Eric Sundwall