On another thread, James asked how one goes about running for office in Durham, which I take to mean running and winning — so I thought it might be interesting to start a thread on what it takes to get elected to office in Durham these days. It is taking supreme effort on my part not to be a smart ass and not to talk about special elections… or having $40k to spend on a campaign for a job that lasts two years and pays you $14k a year… and other unusual ways to win office. But I shall stifle these impulses and offer the following serious opinion:

1) I think it is, ironically, easier to get elected to a state office than City Council because you are dealing with a smaller district and you can cover it better when campaigning. Winning a city- or county-wide election (City Council, County Commissioner, a judgeship) is tough unless you have the money or the support of a really powerful political party (in Duham, that’s the Democratic Party) or several of the political action committees hanging on to power in this town.

2) Based on the candidates who have won in the past several years, it also helps to have a:

Power base, meaning a group of people willing to support you very aggressively. This could be through your job, or through your volunteer activities, or even your church, if it’s big enough.

Name recognition, usually from participating in local government, a political party or from advocating on behalf of a non-profit group. I am sure visible local business leaders or artistic types might be able to leverage their name recognition into an office but I can’t think of any that have recently.

Money, and not a small amount if you are serious. You better have at least 10k for a City Councik run — enough yards signs will run you at least $1k while mailings, even simple postcards, will cost you a minimum of about 30 cents each, even if mailed in bulk (most of that cost is postage). Multiply that by even the barest amount, using ultra-targeting mailing in a city our size, and you are running into some money. Only one goup coughs up that kind of bucks in donations — real estate developers. And they don’t give it without attaching strings.

A good fundraising person — if you can’t ask people for money, better get someone on your side who can. People here don’t pay attention to differences between candidates very well, and you can definitely buy visibility.

A decent campaign team to help you issue press releases, put up a website, write materials, get people to work the polls on election day (hand out your materials) etc. This can be two or three people willing to recruit others but, in my opinion, you really can’t run your campaign all by yourself — not if you are holding down a job and attending the endless number of candidate forums we’ve had in recent years. Just filling out the candidate questionnaires you get flooded with is a full-time job in itself.

An issues platform: with a very resonant central plank to it… unless you are an incumbent with a decent record, in whch case just keep your nose clean and your hands off Boy Scouts and you have a great shot at getting re-elected without ever really saying anything.

Otherwise, I think there is a chance of getting elected without these things IF you have a really, really great message and are “the candidate we’ve all been waiting for.” In my opinion, the only type of candidate that might fall under that category these days in Durham would be one who is a true environmental candidate and has a platform that spreads their environmental philosophy across all areas of city operations and planning, including areas of current interest to the black community’s political influencers, like no lead in the water, please. Or, perhaps a black minister or other non-political leader with ties to the white community who decides to step forward for public office for the first time and runs on a message of uniting the city, black and white, and stopping the separate but equal vibe we’ve got going here. I think either one of those types of “out of the box” candidates might have a chance. But I’m not holding my breath one will step foward.

I hope other people will add their opinions and ideas for electing people to office in a different way because, let me tell you: the current system is brutal!