I will be 30 come 2014. I will be old enough to be a Senator. It just so happens that Georgia has a Senate election next year.
Our current senior Senator, Saxby Chambliss ®, is retiring. The Democrats have pretty much coalesced around one candidate - a daughter of a former governor or something like that. The Republican primary, though, is wide open with quite a few candidates. I therefore intend to try and run in the Republican primary.
I will not campaign. I will not fundraise (outside of an exception I will get into). I will do nothing to actively solicit votes. I intend only to see how many votes a no-name will get in a multi-candidate primary without doing anything at all to generate interest.
In order to get officially on the primary ballot, I need to gather signatures and submit a fee. The signature requirement is a floating number, but I estimate 15,000 would be enough based on past requirements. I should probably go for 25k just to be safe. The fee is about $5250. That is the only thing I would fundraise for - just ask for a dollar per signature (knowing full well I won’t get it) to try and raise the fees needed to get my name on the ballot (included in that would be the filing fee I imagine is needed to submit whatever paperwork is needed to fundraise). Any excess monies at the end of the campaign, which I no doubt would not win, would be given to charity (if that’s permissible by law; I don’t know what else would be permissible with excess assets).
Only one person I can think of at RPGC, besides me, can sign his name to the necessary paperwork, so I am not asking for signatures. I am not asking for money (although that can be arranged later). I merely wish to announce my desire to run for Senate. And to do absolutely nothing else besides get my name on the ballot.
Good luck chump, my name IS the ballet. Get on my level, chumpion, that level being the level of a champion rather than the level of a chumpion like you
As much as I would like to wish you good luck on your endeavor, I can’t exactly support your decision to get sucked into the quagmire that is Washington DC.
That said, this country is in sore need for some good (re: not insane) Republicans and I’m certain that you’d do a better job than almost anybody in Congress right now.
I live in a Red State with a soon to be clusterfuck of a Republican primary. That’s the best way for a no-namer to see how many random votes he can get. If I lived in a Blue State with a wide open Democratic primary, I’d run as a Dem.
Eh, wotever. What would you do if you won?
I would continue to not campaign and not fundraise while enjoying my name on the general election ballot. If I then won that, I would serve in the Senate. And not campaign. And not fundraise.
My platform is this: I will not announce a traditional platform. I will not campaign. I will not fundraise (besides getting the necessary fees to get my name on the ballot).
Announcing a platform is a form of campaigning, and I do not intend to campaign. I want to see how many vote a random name in a wide open primary would receive.
Do you need our signatures? Or donations?
Without looking into the signature requirements, I doubt non-Georgians (and certainly not non-Americans) can give valid signatures to get my name on the Georgia ballot. As for donations, I do not know yet. I shall look into some campaign finance laws shortly.
I never heard of no ballet named Ramza. Is it like Swan Lake?
It says a lot about the state of our country when a person choosing to waste over $5000 just on a lark to see how many votes he can get is considered a sane politician.
I will need your signature. And a dollar if you can spare it. And to possibly help with the collection of the 25k or so signatures (and dollar donations). I’m still looking into the actual formal requirements and will get back to you.
I could honestly see you winning based purely on the fact that by virtue of having no public image, you have a significantly better public image than most of your opponents. “Hey, I can’t really be worse, can I?” is a sadly strong unspoken platform.
A senate run announced on RPGC. Unexpected and weirdly pleasing.
In all seriousness, trying to fulfill the requirements and run is a worthwhile goal even if you just do it as an experiment. Too many people are shut out of the political process.
Unless you’ve changed a lot in the past five or so years, you’d probably make a better Senator than the current lot we’ve got. Good luck… even if you’re running as a Republican. :smugdog:
Apparently running for the Republican ticket, even as a joke when you’re not exactly doing anything, is frowned upon when your law firm mainly represents labor unions.
So I guess I’ll have to wait for the next primary free-for-all when I have a different job.
