Lilly came to town. My computer crashed. I went to Washington DC, St. Pete and Tallahassee. All of which means it’s been so long that I have no choice but to do a brain dump.

1) Dave Aronberg and Dan Gelber are still rockin’ the house everywhere they go.

2) Now is not the time to abandon the fight. We’ve pushed a huge rock half way up the hill. If we falter now, the bottom gets smooshed.

3) I love how God thrusts average folk into greatness and how they respond with humility (see the Lilly Ledbetter story).

4) There is never, ever a reason to squish another persons optimism.

5) How can 60 degree days in Florida feel colder than 40 in D.C.?

6) I have no idea how I am going to manage all of this without Douglas here.

7) I haven’t come to any absolute conclusions but there has to be a much better way of applying for this job.

My sweet Frank is rock solid.

9) Cynicism about the future isn’t helpful.

10) People who believe early and publicly are huge, gigantic morale boosters.

Last week started with a big, fat thud as the unemployment numbers dropped into our laps. 16.8% for my beloved Flagler. Lower, but equally vile numbers in the other Counties that make up the District. I am running because I understand jobs so it was an especially strong kick to the gut.

Time is wasting.

People are suffering.

How many more – I wondered – will lose their livelihoods before election day?

I was too busy with my own disbelief to think about how my team was digesting the news. That is when the thud turned into a gasp. I opened my email and there it was. The subject line.

I read it. Huh? I re-read it. Uh? I rubbed my eyes and re-re-read it. OMGosh!!!

You know the rest of the story. I was pretty open about it in my apology email. In an effort to give adequate voice to our outrage, passions overruled political correctness.

Why didn’t I cut him loose? Because we’re a team. Because when I mess up, I don’t want to be kicked to the curb either. And because I totally understood his passion.

It crystallizes a bit more everyday. There are, I am discovering, two kinds of people in politics. It doesn’t have anything to do with age but it does have to do with how long you’ve “played the game.”

There are lovers and there are haters.

The lovers love the game. They believe that there is a purpose in what they are doing. They are hungry to make a difference. They know it’s hard but they live for the that split moment in time when something big is possible. My guy – the one who hit send – is a lover.

Unfortunately, the haters love the game too – in their cynical, bitter kind of way. They think that there is nothing new under the sun. They think the way it is, is the way it will always be. They think if you see the world with optimism, you must be naive or simple. They have either run for office before (and lost) or they have been in office f.o.r.e.v.e.r.

So here is my plea -

If you don’t think one person can make a difference. If you think it’s all about money. If you are more interested in gettin’ yours. Then, do us all a favor and get out of the way. Find a new hobby. Find something else to complain about. The rest of us have work to do.

As for the occasional passionate outburst…well, at least you’ll know we are still alive.

Yes, yes I will blog about it. Just not tonight.

I love American Idol. My girls and I consistently watch it. My husband barely tolerates it. He thinks it’s mindless reality TV. The girls are mesmerized by the singing, the lights, the cheers. I see people stretching themselves beyond what they ever thought possible so they can accomplish a dream.

I just love when people pursue their life with passion.

When I worked with ‘dislocated homemakers’ – which is an institutional way of saying women who are entering the world of work for the first time due to death or divorce – I spent my days helping them build a resume. The conversation always started the same way.

“Tell me about your skills.”

“Well, I don’t really have any. I have just raised my kids and took care of the house.”

“Did you balance the family budget?”

“Yes”

“Too the penny?”

“Yes”

“Do you think an employer would find that a valuable skill?”

After a battery of questions and answers like that, we’d end our time with me printing out a resume. Even if it was a small, light resume, she would beam with pride. “This is me? I can do all this?”

Yes, and so very much more.

So that is why I love American Idol. In the face of every obstacle, when the world gives them every reason to give up…to settle…they don’t. I think the same is true no matter your goals.

It’s a hard time. It’s hard to find a job. It’s hard to keep a job. All of that is even more reason to take control of your future.  The government can’t do it for you. Your teacher can’t do it for you. You, only you can increase your knowledge, skills and abilities so you are ready for your moment in front of the judges.

Is it just activity or is it progress?

I enjoyed breaking bread with a hand full of folks today. As we talked about campaign finance, health care, equality, religion, JOBS, ethics and terrorism – the occupational irony of the moment did not escape me.

At the table…pouring out passion, concern and hope for a better future was…

A political candidate

A Rabbi

A Realtor

An insurance broker

An Attorney

and

A consultant

Proving yet again that the world is made up of many gifted people who want to use their experiences as a jumping off point for true collaboration. Now if that group can give and take, listen and learn, debate and discuss with each other for 2 hours…shouldn’t the people we elect to do those very things be able to too?

So I have blogged before about the awkwardness that comes with asking friends and family to contribute to your campaign. The professionals retort - if friends and family won’t give to you, why should anyone else?  I have blogged about the mind numbing inefficiency of “call time.” The professionals quip – it’s purely a matter of numbers. No one, I am told, is serving in Congress who hasn’t raised $100,000 from their personal network and didn’t spend the better part of year “dialing for dollars” a minimum of 40 hours per week. Most double that.

Here is the new skinny. The only way to climb the legislative body career ladder? Raise money. So rising stars are expected to raise money. Big money. $10,000 a day kind of money. Even if they don’t have much of a race back home. They give it away to those who do. Well, “give” it is probably the wrong word.

A few days ago I spoke to a woman who gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to candidates and incumbants every election cycle. She told me that she and her husband would not be giving any more. Why? Because their “little bit of money” couldn’t compete with big lobbying money. It surprised me. I understand the why bother mentality from my fellow $100.00 givers but from a power broker?

She was right.

She was so very right and still we wonder why we have crap policy coming out of our legislative bodies.

We have crap (and by crap I mean ill-thought out, ineffective and expensive) policy spewing from legislators at every level because we have no diversity in the membership of those bodies. Diversity? You ask. Yes, diversity of life perspective.

Interesting, smart working people can’t get the job of legislator because they can’t afford to be a candidate. We already established that being a candidate is a full time job. And it doesn’t pay. Working dads – can’t do it. They can’t take the pay cut. Mid career professionals – can’t do it. They have too much seniority at stake. Single moms – can’t do it. They don’t have the rolodex. Teachers, cops, firefighters, military members, park rangers… are generally forbidden by a law, a policy, a statute or a regulation.

No, the vast majority of our legislators don’t fight for the middle class because they don’t know what it is to fight to get into – much less stay in - that class. 

As long as we have campaigns that rely on raising an embarrassment of riches. As long as only about 2% of America’s contribute to candidates that they believe in. As long as we continue to have a huge divide between registered and unregistered citizens. As long as we continue to equate the ability to raise money with the ability to govern, we will continue to live under policy that assumes we are all the same.

As soon as December is over

I’m bloggin about

what December was like.

The experience of campaigning has been eye opening. Here is a totally unscientific glimpse into totally unfounded data.

There are over 300 million people in the USA. In a Presidential election about 125 million vote, which means that 44 million don’t bother. 72 million are Democrats. 55 million are Republicans. 42 million are not affiliated with a party. 60 million eligible citizens are not even registered to vote.

Now here is the completely subjective part.

A full 10% of  any number you choose from above are people who intensely dislike anyone who works in government, runs for office and who, in fact, think that the government has no redeeming quality whatsoever.

My apologies for ignoring the blog. It is the end of our second quarter and the vicious people I have working with me won’t let me do anything but call people.

The only beneficiary of our current campaign SOP is the incumbent party.

What would you do to change it?