Spend a Couple Dollars Tonight - It's Bargain Night in Politics

Want to make someone happy for $25 or $50? Tonight's your night.

Like some sort of third world currency, the value of your political dollars varies month-to-month, even day-to-day. Right here in Kansas City, your political dollar is at a peak, but the value will come crashing down before the end of the week.

Why? Because the June 30 reporting deadline is today. What a candidate receives today will show up in a week or so when the campaign filings are done, and political insiders will dissect those reports not only for total figures, but also for depth, breadth and identity of support.

It's about intimidation. A candidate who shows early strength in fundraising looks formidable. A candidate who turns in a lackadaisical fundraising report looks vulnerable. It's still early enough that potential opponents still think they could take on a vulnerable candidate, so tonight's the night that could determine the difficulty of the 2010 elections for a lot of candidates.

Your small check tonight could save a candidate tens of thousands of dollars down the road.

Not surprisingly, there are fundraisers aplenty tonight. If you're wanting to help out strong young Democrats, you should seriously consider dropping by Wine., 112 West 63rd Street, tonight, where Kevin McManus will be launching his campaign to succeed Kate Meiners after she is termed out, or coming to the "Party on the Porch" being thrown by "lots of fabulous women" for Jackson County's best legislator, Theresa Garza Ruiz.

I hope to make both. I love a bargain.

Wrestling with Pigs - Advice for Local Politicians

The political season is warming up again, and new candidates are jumping into the pool. And, happily, there are some great ones - Jay Swearingen in the 31st District and Kevin McManus in the 46th District stand out as fresh faces ready to run great campaigns. Both have kicked off their efforts with successful fundraising and meeting lots of people.

As a blogger, I have a few words of advice for Jay, Kevin, and any other first-time candidates. Ignore us.

Here's a true story of why. A couple election cycles ago, I had chosen to support a primary candidate in a hard-fought state rep race. As is often the case, the partisans on both sides were getting kind of nasty in blog comments, while the candidates themselves were staying above it all.

One fine Saturday morning, when the weather was picture-perfect for door-to-door campaigning, the candidate I was supporting was out meeting people and asking for their votes. Around noon, though, the other candidate posted a long, passionate comment on my blog, way at the bottom of 80 or so comments. The candidate had obviously spent the morning on a computer instead of a sidewalk.

I knew the race was over right then. Shaking hands, asking for donations, putting yard-signs up - that's the way for a candidate to spend a sunny Saturday morning during campaign season. Worrying about what a few, mostly anonymous, commenters are saying is not. A few of that candidate's supporters told me after the election that they lost their optimism when they saw the comment, because they knew the candidate was not disciplined enough to stick to priorities. When the votes were counted, the candidate who spent Saturday morning going door-to-door clobbered the one who spent Saturday morning writing a comment on Gone Mild.

You will not win or lost your campaign by what is written on blogs. Another anecdote - back in 2006, another local candidate ran the most effective blog-based campaign I had ever imagined. He ran a first-class blog, participated in conversations in other blogs, and basically won the hearts and minds of everyone in the blogosphere. I sincerely thought he was going to win. He got crushed.

My point is that the blogosphere in local politics is a raucous scene populated by anonymous agitators who will say just about anything under their cloak of anonymity. Don't confuse them with the people you need to persuade.

If a blogger posts something factually inaccurate about you, go ahead and email the person and politely explain where he or she is mistaken. Most bloggers I know do try to stick to the truth, and the majority of us will print a correction. But ignore the comments, and don't try to win a battle in the comment section of a blog.

George Bernard Shaw wrote, "I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it." While there are some tremendously thoughtful and fair blog commenters out there, the analogy fits.