How early should I kick off my election campaign?

-Have volunteers start working?

-Start asking for campaign donations?

-Hire a campaign manager?

This is for a mayoral race in 2012

Thank you for your input!

Yesterday is certainly not too early unless you are too busy. A couple of years of getting your name in the paper or otherwise known may be worth 1-2 years of official campaigning. Start small. Are your neighbors ready to vote for you?

Joe,

If you're serious you should certainly look for a campaign manager immediately. It's already time or even past time to start planning your 2012 run for the mayor seat.

As far as getting volunteers working and asking for campaign donations, I wouldn't start bending the public's ear about all that money stuff until a year or less before the elections or you run the risk or boring them to death or making them suspicious of you.

But it's time to begin planning your campaign strategy right now.

You have to create your platform, create a plan for running your city or town, define how and why it's so much better than the plan of the person who will be running against you, study the budget and find out where there is too much spending or not enough spending. Talk to people and find out how they feel about local issues like property taxes, schools, police, fire & rescue, water and sewage services, plowing in the winter, street cleaning, garbage collection, crime, after-school progams (or lack), hospitals, neighborhood watches, leash laws, library policies, handicapped access policies, winter fuel assistance for the poor, 911 emergency response services, nepotism, corruption, petty or major bribery and scandals in local government, child protection services, school lunches, community evacuation plans for disasters due to storms, acts of terrorism or war, or other freak occurances.... all kinds of stuff.

Find out how all those things and more are currently being handled or planned for, find out how people feel about them and how they are being paid for, think about how you would do things the same or differently, write it all down, and brainstorm with your campaign manager and put it all into a platform that identifies you as the unique local Messiah who is the only leader who can get your city or town out of this ungodly mess your opponent has mired them down into.

And stuff like that.

You need to tell people why you would be any different than the current mayor, and not only different, but better. And now is the time to figure those things out. Money comes later, after you figure out if you actually are different and better.

Don't even think about it until you have spent some time within the city government--as a volunteer. There are any number of boards and commissions that you could serve on: park board, planning commission, etc. Meet with the mayor and let her/him know that you would like to serve. (Letting on that you have an ultimate goal of being mayor wouldn't be wise.) You have to get your face, name, and abilities known starting now. That takes time.

I, for one, would never vote for a mayor that had no experience in public service. Being unpaid for your time shows that you are committed to public service, not just looking for a job.

Excellent suggestion. I can think of a person, right now, who started just that way. Began in small ways, working on local projects within the community, and then ran for a seat on her city council, later running, and being elected mayor.

She was appointed by the governor to served on a state commission where she make her mark fighting corruption. She was eventually elected governor of the state and, as of this writing, is seeking higher office.

But it all started with some volunteer involvment in community activities. You might get some handy tips on getting elected to a city council from our own "Matt." Perhaps you could PM him to join the discussion here.

Agreed. Joe here has got to get some time on his card.

Granted, his opponent will say, "Joe? Seriously? This guy has no real experience. His last job with our fine city was assistant shovel hoser at the dog pound. And lemme tell ya, he wasted a lot of water doing it."

Nature of the beast.

You can choose one of two political philosophies.

Democrat, where you react to what you perceive as reality, or

Republican, where you make your own reality to suit your needs.

Please don't assume from my quoted suggestion that I would necessarily vote for just anyone with some public service experience that is running for a higher level job. Some people have already risen to their level of incompetence. Others have not been in their current position long enough to have exhibited enough competence at that level to justify "leapfrogging" them to a much higher position.

I can think of a person, right now, that fits both of my descriptions of who I would NOT vote for.

In anticipation of a 'clever' response: you will probably say "Oh, you mean Obama!" To which I would reply, "No, I meant Bush."